Homegrown talent is having a big impact on high level hockey in the Yellowhead region.
The Hinton Wildcats are the newest club in the Western States Hockey League (WSHL), a Tier Two Junior A league. With help from a couple of Jasper skaters and some coaching between the pipes, the team is off to a great start.
Better yet, on November 11, Jasper fans will get the chance to see the exciting brand of hockey for themselves when 3-2-1 Wildcats host the Seattle Totems here in town.
Local boys Brendan Auger and Jake Delorme are two of the Wildcats’ rising stars. Auger, a hard-checking left winger who broke loose with a hat trick and two assists in the Wildcats’ 9-5 win against the Meadow Lake Mustangs, is on the team’s first line. Delorme, a big d-man with experience at different levels of high energy hockey, has terrific vision to go along with his booming shot from the point, according to the the team’s head coach and general manager, Geoff Walker.
“I can’t say enough about what these guys bring to our team,” Walker said.
As an expansion team in the WSHL, there was a lot of hard work over the summer to get the Wildcats ice-ready. From roster selection to billet coordination, marketing to merchandising, ticket sales to transportation, it’s taken a ton of effort behind the scenes to get to the point where coaches can finally focus on playing hockey.
“The Town of Hinton has been so supportive, welcoming and helpful,” Walker said.
And so has its Rocky Mountain neighbour. Walker said when Jasper goalie coach Ryan Verge offered up his help behind the bench, the team jumped at the opportunity.
“Ryan’s been amazing,” Walker said. “Having him here helping with the goalies a couple of times a week has been absolutely massive.”
The expansion’s team’s first signing was 18-year-old Samual Gendron, a netminder from New Brunswick who had been heavily scouted by the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, but who ultimately decided to benefit from another year of development at the Junior A level. The Wildcats have built their team around Gendron, as well as their two other goalies, Kyle Francescheni and Justin Dupuis.
“All of these guys are very capable and skilled,” Verge said.
Part of the WSHL’s mandate is to act as a development league for young players looking to take the next step in their hockey careers, whether that be college level hockey or moving into a different junior league, such as the AJ (Alberta Junior) or a bigger jump into Major Junior. Walker, who himself played professional hockey for 11 years—mostly in the American and East Coast Hockey Leagues—says the Wildcats offer local skaters an opportunity to play high level hockey while staying close to home.
“There’s a ton of talent in this area and this league has a ton of scouts coming out to games,” he said. “These guys are getting seen by a whole new level of eyes.”
On November 11, it will be Jasper fans’ eyes who get to see a high-paced, high-skilled brand of hockey.
Along with cheering on their hometown boys, Auger and Delorme, Walker hopes Jasperites will come out to see how good the product on the ice can be. “We want to show Jasper how good this hockey really is,” he said.
The Hinton Wildcats play Seattle Totems on Sunday, November 11 at the Jasper Arena. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.
Bob Covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com
