AJHL All-Star Game

Pres Release

Twenty-seven goals, ninety-nine shots, no hitting: all in all a pretty typical all star game Saturday evening as the Alberta Junior Hockey League celebrated its top players at Max Bell Centre in Calgary. About the only surprise was the fact that a goaltender was named the player of the game. But if you saw Aaron Dell of the Calgary Canucks play, you’ll know the choice was well deserved. He blocked all 15 shots he faced and turned the game over to his teammates with the South leading 2-0.
“I had fun,” he told me afterward. “You know there will be lots of chances since there’s not much backchecking and no contact in front of the net. And everybody in this game is a great player.”
Netminder Matt Milne felt much the same way during his appearance in the second period for Team North. Perspective is everything in a game like this. The League’s top goalie was shelled for seven goals but did manage to lead his team to victory in the shootout competition which was conducted over two intermissions.
“You just try to have some fun with it,” he said with a smile. “It was nice to win the shootout because I didn’t have much luck in my period of play.
The South led 2-0 after the first period and 9-6 after 40 minutes. But the North rallied to win period three by a 7-4 score. The North tied the score at thirteen with 1.2 seconds left to play in regulation time. In fact, the only time the North led in the game was at 4:19 of the overtime period when Zahn Raubenhelmer of the Grande Prairie Storm potted the winner.
As expected, with a couple of media types on the respective benches as honourary coaches, there was some chirping. The South thought it had won when Mark Lyons of the Brooks Bandits scored. But the goal was waved off because the net had come off its moorings. South coach, Eric Francis, felt the net had been deliberately dislodged by the goaltender. North coach, Rob Kerr, vehemently denied that such was the case. Perhaps because they had skated miles through three plus periods of end to end action, the officials sided with the North.

2009 All-Star Game Scoring Summary

First Period

1. South, Williams (Olsen, Brergman)

2. South, Williams 2 (Nocera, Bergman)

Second Period

3. North, Williamson (Smutek)

4. South, Young (Collett, Knight)

5. South, Collett (Knight, Young)

6. North, Hardowa (Yaremchuk, Rolheiser)

7. South, Orban (Bannister, Williams)

8. North, Raubenheimer (Mirwaldt)

9. South, Dunbar (Granberg, DeBruyn)

10. South, Bannister (Orban, Bergman)

11. South, Bergman (Orban, Bannister)

12. North, Rowney (Mirwaldt)

13. South, Orban 2 ( DeBruyn)

14. North, Blair (Rolheiser, Tyson)

15. North, Blair 2 (Rolheiser)

Third Period

16. South, Orban 3 (unassisted)

17. North, Yaremchuk (Blair)

18. South, Granberg (Hudson, Orban)

19. North, Rowney 2 (Mirwaldt, Seigo)

20. South, Nocera (Collett, Daigle)

21. North, Williamson 2 (Smutek, Seigo)

22. North, Blair 3 (unassisted)

23. North, Jagow (Williamson)

24. South, Knight (Lyons)

25. North, Rolheiser (unassisted)

26. North, Yaremchuk 2 (Hardowa , Rolheiser)

Overtime

27. North, Raubenheimer 2 (Hardowa)

(Nathan also is a writer for Maineiacs Post to Post and the Maine Hockey Journal. He can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)