THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST

SELKIRK – Lundar’s Ryan Benson had a remarkable rookie season, St. Malo’s Ashton Dubois won the scoring title and Selkirk’s Owen Derewianchuk with an eye-popping 0.999 goals- against average, was clearly the top goalie in the loop. All three stars were awarded recognition this season as members of the inaugural Capital Region Junior Hockey League. As the CRJHL has done every year since 2017-18, the league allows each team to nominate two players as league all-stars. Then, to round out the team, two goaltenders were selected. There were very few surprises. Four of the league’s Top 5 scorers are all on the team – Dubois, Benson, Aidan Ticknor and Jordan Donald – as were two of the league’s Top 3 scorers among defencemen – Selkirk’s Cale Jonski and Arborg’s Jake Plett – and the Top 2 goalies – Derewianchuk and St. Malo’sJosze Gauthier-Urmos. “This is another great all-star team,” said league spokesman Grant Heather. “And because we do it the way we do it, everybody’s happy. All-star teams are supposed to reward the best and nobody knows that better than the coaches, managers and players themselves. This way, by having each team nominate two players, we let the teams honour their top guys. I think that’s the way it should be.”

LET’S MEET THE CRJHL’S BEST AND BRIGHTEST FOR 2022-23

ARBORG ICE DAWGS Ice Dawgs head coach and GM Scott Wong on: 5 JAKE PLETT D / 5’10” / 170 LBS / 19 / ARBORG 27 GAMES / 11 GOALS / 9 ASSISTS / 20 POINTS “I had the pleasure of coaching Jake with the Interlake Lightning. When he first played for me, he was 5-foot- 5, 150 pounds and he’s grown into a man. He’s one of my top defencemen. He has a lot of speed, he reads the play and he’s the quarterback of our power play. He shoots the puck really hard and he’s what every team needs.”

16 TYSON BARYLSKI F / 6’1” / 195 LBS / 19 / ARBORG 25 GAMES / 9 GOALS / 17 ASSISTS / 26 POINTS “Tyson is my assistant captain and he’s one of the leaders on the team. He’s come a long way this year. One of the reasons why he was selected is because he has come so far from last season. He’s really progressed. He’s a big forward and plays like Keith Tkachuk or his sons. He’s an in-your-face type of player who wins lots of faceoffs, battles extremely hard in front and he gets most of his goals in close. Every team needs one or two guys like Tyson, a guy who can play tough hockey and score dirty goals. We’re lucky to have him.”

BEAUSEJOUR COMETS Comets head coach James Worthing on: 17 AIDAN TICKNOR F / 6’0” / 165 LBS / 21 / PINAWA 28 GAMES / 21 GOALS / 13 ASSISTS / 34 POINTS “What can’t I say about both of our all-stars? They are fantastic players who lead by example. Aidan is aggressive to the net and that really helps us. I didn’t expect Aidan to lead our team in points, but he just gets better, every single game we play. He’s really improved.”

25 RILEY TIRSCHMAN D / 6’0’ / 170 LBS / 19 / PINAWA 22 GAMES / 9 GOALS / 8 ASSISTS / 17 POINTS “He is not shy. He has confidence with the puck and even though he’s a defenceman, he’s aggressive to the net, as well. He likes to drive the play. There really isn’t a lot of difference between Tick and Riley even though one is a defenceman and one is a forward. Riley used to be a forward so he has that offensive mentality.”

LUNDAR FALCONS Falcons head coach Tyler Medeiros on: 19 RYAN BENSON F / 6’1” / 170 LBS / 18 / McCREARY 30 GAMES / 11 GOALS / 21 ASSISTS /32 POINTS “Ryan is a great guy both on and off the ice; he gets along well with everyone. What Ryan has done in his first year in the league is pretty impressive. He’s in the Top 5 in scoring in the league as a rookie because he can generate offence, and he was able to adjust to this league pretty quickly out of high school. Ryan’s the second Benson that has suited up for Lundar over the years; his older brother, Derek, also played in our program. Ryan spent the majority of the season living with a relative in Lundar.”

10 ZACH HALLDORSON D / 6’1” / 200 LBS / 19 / LUNDAR 28 GAMES / 6 GOALS / 10 ASSISTS / 16 POINTS “Zach is a local player who is a real hard-working defenceman. He brings it every night. He has a strong leadership presence on our team, he’s one of our assistant captains and the honour is well-deserved. He’s been great for us both on and off the ice.”

NORTH WINNIPEG SATELITES Satelites president Cliff Malzensky on: 21 RONIN KUBRAKOVICH D / 5’10” / 185 LBS / 21 / WINNIPEG 24 GAMES / 3 GOALS / 10 ASSISTS / 13 POINTS “Ronin is our captain. He’s definitely a leader. We wanted to honour two of our 21-year-olds and Ronin has been a really good player for us ever since he arrived here in 2020. He has one more year at U of M and he’s looking at going to UMass-Amherst to play ACHAhockey. He plays hard – he’s on that edge where he doesn’t hurt anybody, but he’s going to hit something.”

12 DAMIAN AIKMAN D / 6’0” / 245 LBS / 21 / WINNIPEG 30 GAMES / 4 GOALS / 5 ASSISTS / 9 POINTS “He’s a rock-solid defenceman and he’s been that way for four years. He’s sneaky fast for a big boy. He’s not afraid to take the puck right up the middle of the ice, get it into the opposing zone and jump back on D. He’s now in his fourth season and he’s been solid ever since he got here. He’s thinking about going to Central Michigan University to play ACHA hockey.”

ST. MALO WARRIORS Warriors president, GM and head coach Ralph Collette on: 18 ASHTON DUBOIS F / 5’10” / 160 LBS / 18 / ST. MALO 29 GAMES / 15 GOALS / 26 ASSISTS / 41 POINTS “We had a really good year and it’s too bad that when you pick all-stars that you can only choose three. Ashton Dubois was obvious. He led the league in points. We had a very competitive league this year so the point totals aren’t as high as they’ve been in past years. That’s a credit to the competitiveness of the league.”

11 JEREMIE COLLETTE F / 5’10” / 170 LBS / 19 / ST. MALO 30 GAMES / 15 GOALS / 16 ASSISTS / 31 POINTS “Jeremie is Ashton’s linemate and the two of them play very well together. Jeremie is a set-up man and Ashton is a scorer. I give them both a lot of credit but I also want to mention the third wheel on that line, Brady Gregoire. Brady is coming from the AAA system in Eastman. He’s a local boy and he’s quite talented and they all complement themselves quite well.”

33 JOSZE GAUTHIER-URMOS G / 5’8” / 165 LBS / 18 / WINNIPEG 18 GAMES / 14-3-0-0 / 1.98 GAA / .926 SAVE PERCENTAGE “My goaltender, Josze, came to us from the MMJHL’s St. Boniface Riels. He needed a change and after he had some really good tryouts at Jr. A camps, he came to us and has kept up his momentum all year. Of course, as the leader that he is, he credits the defence for the work they’ve done all year. I have to give him a lot of credit. He’s a very good goaltender and he works extremely well with our other goalie, William Patterson. They both had great years.”

SELKIRK FISHERMEN Selkirk assistant coach Tyndall Fontaine on: 26 JORDAN DONALD G / 6’0” / 207 LBS / 20 / EAST SELKIRK 23 GAMES / 18 GOALS / 15 ASSISTS / 33 POINTS “Jordan is a good leader. You can depend on him and you can lean on him. He’s hard to play against – skilled, strong and he doesn’t back down. He’s also a good person, which is nice to have on your team. He checks all the boxes.”

7 CALE JONSKI D / 5’11” / 155 LBS / 21 / GRAND BEACH 25 GAMES / 1 GOAL / 21 ASSISTS / 22 POINTS “I’ve known Jonski since he was a little kid. He played minor hockey at Sagkeeng. I’ve been able to watch him over the years and he’s definitely sprouted and grown into a whole different player. I don’t have to say anything to him during a game. He knows exactly what to do.”

33 OWEN DEREWIANCHUK G / 6’0” / 195 LBS / 21 / WINNIPEG 15 GAMES / 12-1-1-1 / 0.99 GAA / .960 SAVE PERCENTAGE “We’re lucky because we have two of the best goalies in the league with Owen and Brendon Hocaluk. It’s nice going into a game knowing you’ll have solid goaltending that always gives you a chance to win. It allows our players to not be afraid to make mistakes. There comes a time when we need a jump and, with big saves, our goalies have often given it to us.”