News Bulletin

Decenber 22, 2008

Predators Shine With ETA All-Stars

On Saturday, December 13th, the Eastern AAA (ETA) held its annual ETA All-Star Game at the Elgin Barrow arena in Richmond Hill, hosted by the South Central Coyotes.

The Predators were well represented by Kole Clement, Aaron Garner, and Anthony De Gasperis, who all partook in the big game for the Western Conference. Predators Co-Coach Randy Robinson was also part of the team, being an Assistant Coach for the Western All-Star team.

Earlier in the day the players took part in a skills competition. This proved to be a very tight affair, with each event being hotly contested. There were six events making up the competition: Puck Control Relay, Fastest Skater, Pass and Score, In the Zone, Ambush, and Breakaway Relay. Each Predator participated in three events, with all three contributing to a Western Conference victory in the skills competition of 8 points to 6.

While the Skills Competition was a very evenly matched event, this would not be the case once the puck dropped to begin the West vs East All-Star Game.

Moving the puck crisply, the West came out flying. They used their great speed and dominated from start to finish on their way to a very one-sided 11-1 victory.

Highlights of the game for the North Central players were Aaron Garner scoring to make it 6-0 with assists going to Josh Graves of Barrie and Predator teammate Kole Clement. Graves then scored to make it 7-0 on a nice pass from Kole Clement of the Predators. The one-sided affair continued with the West scoring to make it 8-0 on a goal from a Coyotes Midget player, which was set up nicely by Aaron Garner of the Preds. Rounding out the scoring and putting the finishing touches on an impressive 11-1 victory, Kole Clement scored late in the third, capping off yet another nice effort on the day. Anthony De Gasperis of the Predators played a very solid game on D with some very heads-up passing to start many breakouts and some great defensive plays to thwart any scoring chances and momentum the East might try to build.

Robinson said “It was a real neat experience to get to participate in such an event and I really enjoyed getting to know players and coaches you typically are not cheering for during league play. As the saying goes: it is a lot better to have the kids on your team, than playing against them.”.

NCOHA Vice President Bob Thom also attended the game. He said that “The West team dominated the game with their quick passing, fast skating, and unselfish play. It was one of the best performances by an ETA Midget All-Star team I have seen in years. It also goes to show that there is life after Minor Midget (a player’s draft year) and an abundance of good players still playing the game.”

All in all it was a very exiting day for the Predators players that got to participate, and the Predators are proud of Aaron Garner who was selected to the ETA All Star Team that now plays a match against the SCTA AAA loop in Burlington on January 24^th, 2009.