By Peter Watts /

For more than a year, the communities of Selkirk and Winnipeg have been getting ready to host the Telus Cup, the national Midget boys hockey championship.

The event begins on Monday, April 20 and runs through to the championship game on Sunday, April 26.

It brings together five regional representatives along with a host team, which this year will be the Winnipeg Thrashers.

The Thrashers were silver medalists last year, losing in the final to Sudbury. Both teams were knocked out of their respective playoffs this season with the Thrashers making it to the Manitoba final before losing to the Winnipeg Wild.

The Wild, in turn, lost in the west regional to the Notre Dame Hounds, who will be a part of this year’s Telus Cup. The Thrashers, with 16 players back from last year’s team, get a chance to finish the job in their home town.

“We’re about ready,” said organizing chairman Rob Cox. “All our volunteers are in place.

“Sponsorships were a challenge this year because of the economy but we’ve managed to get as many as we wanted. Ticket sales will pick up now that the teams are known, especially here in Selkirk, which tends to be a ‘walk-up’ town. I think now, though, we’ll see a lot of tickets moved in the days leading up to the first game on April 20.”

The Atlantic representatives are the Moncton Flyers. Manager Ray Gibbs’ team went 28-6-1 and then eliminated Miramichi and Saint John, each in four straight games, to get to the nationals.

“Alain Saulnier broke the league scoring record with 85 points this season,” says Gibbs. “His twin brother, Alex, set a new league mark for assists with 54. And Gino Gogue set a new standard for goals with 36 in 35 games. So we’re excited about what we think we can do at the nationals.”

Laval Bourassa will make just its second appearance in the nationals in the 33-year history of the franchise after eliminating Trois-Rivieres four games to one in the Quebec League final.

“We’re a pretty balanced team,” said manager Bob Plante Jr. “Four lines, six defensemen and two goalies — no superstars. We finished first in our division and second overall in the league this season with 63 points in 45 league games.

“We’re a charter member of the Quebec AAA Midget league, but we haven’t been to the nationals in 20 years, so we’re pretty excited about this opportunity.”

The Hamilton Reps will carry the central region’s colours after defeating the top teams from five different associations around the province.

“We had to play eight games in the final tournament to win the central title,” said manager Randy Smith. “We’ve gone 56-12-3 this season. Andrew Radjenovic had 102 points for us including 54 goals. The Ontario Hockey League scouts are really interested in him.

“Our two goalies, Joel Inouye and Lucas Farraway have split the time in the net and we have four lines that can score. And some of these players have been with coach Clare Lamont for the better part of a decade, and they’ve all moved up through the system together. We have a lot of older Midget players on our roster, so we think we can do well.”

The Notre Dame Hounds dashed the hopes of the Winnipeg Wild in the west regional, winning the best-of-five series 3-1. Overall, the Hounds are 34-7-0-3 this season including a championship in the Prince Albert tournament.

“We did lose to the Calgary Buffaloes in our pool at the Mac’s tournament in Calgary at Christmas,” said head coach Del Pedrick. “So we’d like another shot at them in Selkirk.”

The Hounds are a deep team with a mix of older and younger players. They’re led by 17-year-old Drew George from Regina and by forward Patrick McGillis. He missed two months of the season with mononucleosis but returned in time to be the team’s leading scorer in the Saskatchewan league playoffs with 12 goals in nine games.

The Buffaloes won their league title and the Pacific regional the hard way. They beat out the Sherwood Park Kings in a five-game provincial series and won all three of their games on the road. They then traveled to Burnaby, B.C., to beat the Vancouver North West Giants in two of three games in the Pacific regional. Winning on the road is nothing new for them.