Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Five Teams Contend for Jr. A Crown

Brooks Bandits host top teams across CJHL leagues.


Five Teams Contend for Jr. A Crown
Princeton commit Spencer Kersten leads the Oakville Blades in playoff scoring (Photo by Christian Bender / OJHL Images).

One of five CJHL teams will be crowned as Canada’s National Junior A champion, with that event set for May 12-19 in Brooks, Alta.

The Brooks Bandits, Oakville Blades, Ottawa Jr. Senators, Portage Terriers and Prince George Spruce Kings are the final five teams standing from the 133 that compete in one of the CJHL’s leagues across Canada.

Hockey Canada Site

The five teams boast 37 NCAA Division I commits who plan to attend 24 schools, representing all six conferences. Canisius, Colgate and Vermont lead all schools with three recruits each in the tournament.

Brooks, from the AJHL, qualified as the host team, but would have come close to making the tournament regardless. The Bandits, who lead the field with 13 commits, fell in the Doyle Cup championship to Prince George in six games.

The Spruce Kings of the BCHL feature 11 Division I commits. They went 32-4 in their final 36 games and are led by Lake Superior State commit Dustin Manz with 70 points.

Portage won the MJHL championship, and the Terriers will prepare to host next year’s national championship with an appearance this season. Ocean Wiesblatt (Vermont) is the lone NCAA commitment on the roster.

Ottawa returns to the championship for a second straight season after winning the CCHL again. Robert Morris commit Darcy Walsh is the top scorer for the Senators, who feature four NCAA commits.

Oakville won the OJHL and the Dudley Hewitt Cup to earn its second national championship appearance (also 2010). The Blades feature eight commits headed to six schools and are led in scoring by future Princeton Tiger Spencer Kersten.

All preliminary round and semifinal games will be streamed live on HockeyCanada.ca. The championship game will be broadcast on TSN and streamed on TSN.ca.

Commits in Canadian National Junior A Championship
Brooks Bandits
Andranik Armstrong F UMass Lowell
Luke Bast D North Dakota
Simon Boyko F Vermont
Ray Christy F Colorado College
Simon Gravel F Canisius
Nicholas Hale D Holy Cross
Mack Hancock F Alaska Anchorage
Jakob Lee F Canisius
Andrew Lucas D Vermont
Ryan Mahshie F Rensselaer
Nathan Plessis F Brown
Brandon Scanlin D Omaha
Arnaud Vachon F Colgate

Oakville Blades
Harrison Israels F Alaska
Spencer Kersten F Princeton
Thomas Maia F RIT
Alton McDermott F Canisius
Ryan Nicholson D RIT
Ryan O’Hara F Bowling Green
Garrett Pyke F Alaska
Jack Ricketts F Holy Cross

Ottawa Jr. Senators
Adrien Bisson D Maine
Owen Cole F UMass Lowell
Ethan Manderville F Colgate
Darcy Walsh F Robert Morris

Portage Terriers
Ocean Wiesblatt F Vermont

Prince George Spruce Kings
Layton Ahac D Ohio State
Dylan Anhorn D Union
Nick Bochen D Michigan
Ben Brar F Merrimack
Max Coyle D Alabama Huntsville
Patrick Cozzi F Colorado College
Spencer Denbeste F Lake Superior State
Sean Donaldson F Connecticut
Dustin Manz F Lake Superior State
Ben Poisson F Maine
Liam Watson-Brawn D Colgate