Hockey ‘Butte-style

The Picture Butte Don Shimek UFA Initiation 1 Blades co-hosted a home tournament this past weekend with the Jim Juris Initiation 2 Blades in Picture Butte.

Teams included the Lethbridge Lightning, Lethbridge Dusty Crop Hoppers, Claresholm Thunder, Taber Oil Kings 1, Taber Oil Kings 2, Fort Macleod Mavericks, Lethbridge Dynamite and the Lethbridge Tigers. The Initiation 1 Blades skated away with a huge 9-2 victory on Friday.  Devin Groenenboom scored three goals, Tanner Quinn with two, Ryan Serfas with two, Gavin Johnson and Tate Serfas each scored a goal. Ryan Serfas and Tanner Quinn also helped out with an assist each.  Saturday morning’s match-up against the Lightning resulted in a nail-biting 6-6 tie game. Tucker Newberry scored the first goal of his hockey career and was honoured with the “Digger Award” for the game. Tanner Quinn and Devin Groenenboom each scored two goals and Grady McLeod helped out with one goal. Sunday afternoon the Blades met the Lethbridge Dusty Crop Hoppers and ended the tournament with an 11-6 loss. The Blades played hard and had some great goals by Devin Groenenboom (3), Tanner Quinn (2), Grady McLeod (2), and Ryan Serfas (1). Assists came from Luke Serfas, Grady McLeod and Tate Serfas.

The Picture Butte Elks Novice Blades travelled to Taber for a tournament this past weekend. Game one was an exciting 4-3 loss to the Taber 2 Oil Kings, which dropped the Blades to the ‘B’ Division. Goals in the game were scored by Rhett Serfas, Braxton Hanna and Connor O’Donnell, with an assist from Carson Konynenbelt. The second game on Saturday afternoon found the Blades matched up against the Lethbridge Vipers. The Blades skated away with a 5-3 victory, placing them in the ‘B’’ Final on Sunday morning.  Kyler Stroeve scored two goals against the Vipers, while Connor O’Donnell, Addisyn Currie, Leland Gellrich each scored one goal. Kyler Stroeve, Luka Rudelich and Addisyn Currie helped their team out with an assist each. The Blades played their way to victory in the ‘B’ Final on Sunday morning with a 5-2 win over the Airdrie Hornets. Carson Konynenbelt scored two goals — with Luka Rudelich, Braxton Hanna and Rhett Serfas each adding a goal. Rhett Serfas and Luka Rudelich also had two assists each, while Braxton Hanna and Carson Konynenbelt had a single assist each. The Blades are back in action at home on Friday night against the Taber 1 Oil Kings.  The puck drops at 6:30 p.m.