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The Preeceville Skating Arena was alive with hockey players and their families from communities across the Major Hockey League. The all-star hockey skills competition and hockey games for bantam and midget age categories were held in Preeceville on January 20.

            "It was a great day with both players and fans enjoying the day," said Jesse Nelson, president of Preeceville Minor Hockey. "We had amazing volunteers from the community and areas that helped the event run smoothly.

“We will also be hosting a Preeceville Minor Hockey day on January 27," he said.

            Bantam teams in the league included: Preeceville which is on top of the league with 12 wins and one tie recorded; Melville Golden Knights; Melville Stars; Moosomin Rangers; Langenburg Warriors; Esterhazy Flyers; Ochapowace Thunder; Indian Head Chiefs; Yorkton RH Electric; Yorkton AAA Drilling Terriers, and Yorkton Traction Terriers.

            Midget teams in the league were: Moosomin Rangers, Langenburg Warriors, Melville Chiefs, Preeceville Pats, Grenfell Spitfires, Yorkton Remax Terriers, Fort Qu’Appelle Midget, Fort Knox, Esterhazy Flyers and Yorkton Snap on Tools.

            Local players who play with the Preeceville Pats who were selected to play on the bantam and midget teams were: bantams, Jacob Danyluk, Maxwell Mydonick and Tyler Palchewich, all of Canora, Todd Pankratz of Preeceville and Shae Peterson of Sturgis.

            Local players who were selected to play from the Preeceville Pats were: Jesse Antoniuk, Cody Hort, Connor Nagy and Coleman Metherell, all of Preeceville, and Bo Babiuk of Sturgis.
            Coaching staff for bantams included Preeceville's coaching staff of Conrad Peterson, Kirby Pankratz and Colby Wolkowski. Coaches for the other team were from the Melville Golden Knights.

            In the midget division coaches selected were from Langenburg and Moosomin.

            The day kicked off with a skills competition for the bantam players. Players were tested in five categories: fastest skater, hardest shot, accuracy, goalie challenge and breakaway.

            In the fastest skater competition, skaters had to skate a full revolution around the ice surface in a timed event.

            Eric Vosper of Langenburg was the fastest skater. Other skaters entered were: Jacob Danyluk of Preeceville, Austin Jones of Esterhazy, Tucker Ottenbreit of  Melville, Ryan Ell of Melville, Tyler Thompson of Moosomin, Trinity Bear of Ochapowace and Jackson Long of Yorkton.

            In the hardest shot competition, each player had two opportunities to take a shot at net and test their puck speed. Ryan Rathgeber of Melville won the competition. Other competitors were: Shae Peterson of Preeceville, James Rissling of Indian Head, Austin Miller of Langenburg, Riley Metzger of Melville, Tayte Willoughby of Moosomin, Dawson Lake  and Keanen Gnyp, both of Yorkton, and Braden Lewko of Esterhazy.

            In the accuracy competition, each player had the opportunity to try to shoot out targets from each corner of the net. Karson Krasowski of Yorkton was the winner. Other competitors were Tatum Anardi of Indian Head, Kolby Lauer of Langenburg, Kaiden Smith  and Owen Cook of Melville, Riley Stradeski of Ochapowace, Maxwell Mydonick of Preeceville and Josh Herzog and Brayden Zerff of Yorkton.

            In the goalie challenge, each goalie had to face seven shooters with the winner determined by how many shots were let into the net. Tyler Palchewich of the Preeceville Pats won the challenge. Other competitors were Hailey Schrader of Yorkton and Brady Lutz of Melville.

            The last challenge was the breakaway where players had two chances to showcase their best breakaway moves. Mason Lammers of Yorkton won the challenge. Other competitors were: Jackson Baron of Indian Head, Zander Sies of Langenburg, Dawson Garvey of Moosomin, Carter Bear of Ochapowace, Todd Pankratz of Preeceville, Logan Walters and Sebastian Courville of Yorkton and Joel Groeneveld of Esterhazy.

            The midgets were also put through the same skills competition.

            The fastest skater was Drew Kirk of Langenburg. Other competitors were Jesse Antonichuk of Preeceville, Aiden Tawiyaka of Fort Qu'Appelle, Kade McDonald of Melville, Rylar Hutchinson of Moosomin, Mason Hoffman of Grenfell and Carson Thorley and Ethan Zulyniak of Yorkton.

            Sam Burton of Langenburg won the hardest shot competition. Other competitors were: Connor Nagy of Preeceville, Kaiden Anaska of Fort Qu'Appelle, Carter Exner of Melville, Rhett Woods of Moosomin, Stephen Manovich of Grenfell and Jake Lafferty and Brenden Madsen of Yorkton.

            Monty Driver of Moosomin won the accuracy challenge. Other competitors were: Bo Babiuk of Preeceville, Ty Norgard of Fort Qu'Appelle, Mathew Hartung of Langenburg, Owen Knox of Grenfell and Lucas Chaban and Adam Smith of Yorkton.

            In the goalie challenge, Michael Andrews of Langenburg won the challenge. Other competitors were: Coleman Metherell of Preeceville, Levi Horn of Moosomin and Jason Kraushner of Grenfell.

            Shayne Sangwais of Melville won the breakaway challenge. Other competitors were, Cody Hort of Preeceville, Hunter Bear of Esterhazy, Nick Paul of Fort Qu'Appelle, Zack Moir of Langenburg, Cayden Dodd of Moosomin, Justin Dimier of Grenfell and Dylan Novak and Gabriel Courville of Yorkton.

            In the bantam all-star game, the blue team defeated the white team with a final score of 10-5. Ronnie Shewchuk had the honour of dropping the puck for the bantam game.

            Scoring for the blue team were: Karsen Krasowski (two goals) of Yorkton, Kaden Smith (two goals) of Melville, Xander Sies of Melville, Eric Vosper of Langenburg, Tucker Ottenbriet of Melville, Jackson Baron of Indian Head, Kolby Lauer of Langenburg and Mason Campeau of Yorkton.

            Scoring for the white team were: Mason Lammers (two goals) of Yorkton, Jacob Danyluk of Preeceville, Trinity Bear of Ochapowace and Dawson Garvey of Moosomin.

            In the midget all-star game, the white team defeated the blue team with a final score of 7-4. Jack Prien had the honour of dropping the puck for the midget game.

            Scoring for the white team were: Monty Driver (two goals) of Moosomin, Cayden Dodd of Moosomin, Ethan Zulyniak of Yorkton, Cody Hort of Preeceville, Jesse Antonichuk of Preeceville and Damen George of Esterhazy.

            Scoring for the blue team were: Gabriel Courville of Yorkton, Mason Hoffman of Grenfell, Aiden Tawiyaka of Fort Qu'Appelle and Drew Kirk of Langenburg.