(Supplied/Hockey Alberta)

By Josh Hall | @Vancan19

capping off great seasons

Three central Alberta teams win provincial hockey gold

Mar 24, 2025 | 3:17 PM

Three local hockey squadrons had golden weekends at their respective provincial championships.

The Red Deer U15 AAA boys won gold on home ice, the U15 AA girls won the title in Lloydminster, and north in Lacombe, the hometown U13 B Rockets team secured the championship.

For the U15 AAA Rebels, the team lost just one game at provincials after a regular season that saw them go 27-6-0-1-0.

The Rebels won games 3-1 over St. Albert, 3-0 over Grande Prairie, and 3-1 over the Calgary Bisons, before dropping a 6-3 loss to the Calgary Northstars.

Red Deer got revenge in the final though, beating the Northstars 4-1.

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Head Coach Justin Jarmolicz says the experience of not just winning Red Deer’s first provincial title in this division for the first time in 21 years, but also hosting it, was absolutely amazing.

“The kids played so good defensively, and so responsibly. We had a hiccup on Saturday and didn’t get the result we wanted, but we got refocused and back into it,” he said. “Then Sunday, they locked it down from the goalie on out, and they were rewarded with that championship banner.”

The crowd was one of about 1,200, added Jarmolicz, who’s coached the team for 10 years.

“These are relationships for life they now have, and they all did it together, they all contributed, said Jarmolicz. “At this age, this is where they learn how hard it is and what it takes to win, which is huge.”

Red Deer phenom Madden Daneault, who had 93 points in 33 regular season games this year, led the team and was one point off the provincials lead with nine points in five games, including four goals overall, and three points in the championship game.

Lane Bullee led all goalies with a 1.00 GAA in three games, allowing just three goals on 98 shots faced, with three wins.

Meantime, up in Lloyd, the Red Deer Topco Oilsite Products club finished off a stellar 26-2-2-1-0 season with just one loss at provincials.

The team beat Calgary 3-1, then Lloydminster 2-1, but lost handily to Grande Prairie by a score of 8-3.

GP was eliminated by another team, as Red Deer went on to secure a 4-0 win over Edmonton, then a 7-2 drubbing of the host Lloydminster team again in the final.

“From the beginning of the season, we wanted to put it in the players’ heads that it was a goal to get to provincials, and to give it a good run. We had a very good season, and it became a little more reality than some of them first thought,” says Head Coach Mark Hammer, who was in his first year as coach.

“The tournament went well; we played our first two games strong, then we had a letdown, which was actually good in terms of a reset. They maybe thought they were done with the good teams, so it got us ready for the finals where they played exceptionally well.”

Red Deer forward Reece Lacina, a Sylvan Lake product, led tournament scoring with nine goals and three assists in five games. Charlee Munro starred in net, putting up a 1.96 GAA and .930 SV% over three games and two wins. She was also the only netminder at provincials to earn a shutout, and in her case that came in the semi-final over Edmonton where she stopped 31 shots.

Lastly, the Lacombe Rockets U13 B team took gold by winning 4-1 over Hinton, tying Leduc 6-6, beating Glenlake 2-1, then Red Deer 7-5 in the semi-final, and finally toppling Hinton again 5-1 for the gold.

(Supplied/Hockey Alberta)

This weekend (March 27-30), Sylvan Lake hosts the U13 AA provincials, Rimbey hosts the U15 A tournament, and U13 A teams battle it out in Stettler.

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