(rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

alberta cup

Bantam tournament going smoothly at Harris Centre, title game set for Sunday

Apr 27, 2019 | 8:08 PM

When it was announced last spring that Red Deer would be hosting the next few editions of the WHL Bantam Draft and year-end awards, it was only a matter of time before the Alberta Cup would be announced for the city.

Fast forward a year and the bantam-age tournament is going strong with a new six-team format at the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre.

Dustin Moore, Team Alberta Male Coordinator, says the community of Red Deer has shown strong support for the event.

"TURNING POINT" FOR THE CITY

City of Red Deer sets the stage for Operating Budget debate

5h ago

New Study

Study to be conducted for potential new water reservoir for Red Deer River

5h ago

Continuity of Business Operations

Red Deer County operations during Canada Post strike

5h ago

“From our end, being able to show off our new facility where our office is and the buy-in from the community in regards to volunteers, fans and families who’ve all come out and supported has been fantastic so far,” Moore says. “Red Deer College has also been great to deal with and helped things run really smoothly.”

Moore also applauds the work of the Western Hockey League.

“For Red Deer to have the Alberta Cup, the awards on Wednesday, the draft on Thursday, it’s a little bit of a bantam hockey hotbed here this week,” he says. “I think the kids and families have enjoyed Red Deer and this new facility. There’s been lots of positive comments.”

Meantime, the medal games are set for Sunday with Team Black going up against Team Red for the championship in a rematch of their round robin game

Red (3-0-1), which features mostly players from the Calgary area, beat Black (3-1-0) by a score of 6-3 on Saturday afternoon.

Team Black captain Nate Danielson, also a member this past season of the Red Deer Rebels Bantam AAA team notching 59 points in 29 games, spoke to rdnewsNOW post-game.

“I think the boys have been playing very well this weekend. We definitely faced a lot of adversity today. That’s something to learn from so we can come back hard tomorrow and hopefully bring home the gold.”

On being captain, Danielson added, “It’s special. It’s not something many people get to do.”

Danielson, who has one goal and one assist in four games during the Alberta Cup, is joined on Team Black by Red Deerians Kaiden Ellertson, Ty Daneault and Nolan Larson, as well as Kaden Toussaint of Rimbey, Drayton Valley’s Ryder Patten, and Avery Trotter of Olds.

Sunday’s title matchup gets going at 2 p.m. The third place game is at 11:15 a.m. and the fifth place game begins at 8:30 a.m.

The 2020 Alberta Cup will once again be hosted in Red Deer.

rdnewsNOW will have coverage of the WHL awards and Bantam Draft later this week in our sports section.