FROM THE EDITOR: Jr. Pioneers’ Pee Wee AAs ready for trek to Quebec


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ongratulations to the University of Denver Jr. Pioneers’ Pee Wee AA team, which will represent


the Colorado Avalanche at the 53rd Quebec Interna- tional Pee Wee Tournament, which will be held from Feb. 9-19 at the Pepsi Coliseum. DU earned the right after defeating the Boulder


Bison, 5-1, in the championship game of last month’s Colorado Avalanche Quebec Qualifier tournament at Pepsi Center. “This was something the boys really wanted and it


Matt Mackinder


showed,” said Jr. Pioneers head coach John Kopper- ud. “They played hard from start to finish. Congrats, also, to Boulder for a great tourney.” The Quebec International Pee Wee Hockey


Tournament is the largest and widely considered the most prestigious Pee Wee showcase in the world. It hosts 110 teams of 11- and 12-year-old players from over 16 countries each year. The Jr. Pioneers roster includes: Jacob Adkins,Hunter Bancroft,Colby


Bukes,Luke Ciolli,Murphy Gielow,Blaze Hubbard,Brian King,Mat- thew Kopperud,Colin Lebere,Dustyn Loescher,Nikolai Lyssogor, Jacob Marti,Luke McFarlane,Brice Novosel, J.P. Perez and JaNoah Watkiss. The team’s assistant coaches areVince Goulet, Igor Lyssogor andSteve


McFarlane. “Our team can’t thank the Avs and (community relations coordinator)Ka-


tie Wolfe enough for everything they’ve done and for what’s planned from now through the actual trip to Quebec,” Kopperud said. “I’m not sure our boys under- stand yet how fortunate we are.”


The Pikes Peak Miners hosted the seventh annual Colorado Springs Tier I


Hockey Showcase over Thanksgiving Weekend. At the event, four Midget Major AAA squads - the Miners, Colorado Rampage,


Rocky Mountain RoughRiders and Utah Regulators - competed in a three-game round robin followed by single-elimination games to crown a champion. Pikes Peak defeated the Rampage, 5-3, in the championship game on the


strength of a two-goal performance fromAlec Butcher and 29 saves from goalten- derDanny Kowalski. The Rampage’sMitchell Snyder and Butcher led the tournament with seven


points apiece. Colorado is expected to have representation at the upcoming IIHF World Junior


Championship as Team USA tries medal for unprecedented third consecutive year. The candidates? University of Denver sophomore forward Jason Zucker and


Aurora nativeAustin Levi, both of whom were named to Team USA’s prelimi- nary roster earlier this month. Zucker was a member of the 2010 World Junior team that won gold in Saska-


toon, Saskatchewan, and last year’s bronze-medal squad, while Levi is patrolling the blue line while serving as an alternate captain for the Ontario Hockey League’s (OHL) Plymouth Whalers. The final 22-player U.S. roster will be announced on Dec. 22, and the tourna-


ment will be held in Calgary and Edmonton from Dec. 26-Jan. 5. More than 11,000 kids across the United States tried hockey for the first time


early last month as part of Try Hockey For Free Day. The event was part of USA Hockey and the NHL’s first-ever Come Play Hockey


Month initiative that took place throughout November. Some 430 locations in 47 states across the country were part of Try Hockey for


Free Day. “We’re excited with the results and know that we’ll have some new young play-


ers as a result of Saturday’s (Nov. 5) efforts,” saidPat Kelleher, assistant execu- tive director of membership development for USA Hockey. The next nationwide Try Hockey For Free Day will come in conjunction with the


fifth annual Hockey Weekend Across America, presented by Reebok, on Saturday, Feb. 18. Those interested in hosting an event can register at TryHockeyForFree. com.


Contact Matt Mackinder at matt@rubberhockey.com 4


Colorado Thunderbirds graduate Quentin Shore, a University of Denver recruit playing this season with USA Hockey’s National Team Develop- ment Program’s Under-18 Team


Dominic Turgeon, whose father is former NHL forward Pierre Turgeon, is flying high this season with the Colorado Thunderbirds’ 16U team. See more on the coveted young prospect on Page 11. Photo/YSPN.com


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Son Of A Gun


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