The North Shore Bantams—the combined team of Grand Marais, Silver Bay and Two Harbors skaters— took on Duluth Denfel and came away with a victory, 5-3. With Nick Osbakken (16) looking on, Ryan Rasmussen does his best Sidney Crosby impersonation and shoots the puck past the Denfeld goalie.
What do you get when you take two skaters from Grand Marais, nine skaters from Silver Bay and nine skaters from Two Harbors? Easy…you get the North Shore Bantam Hockey Team!
This combined team of 20 kids was created this year due to the lower number of skaters at this level of hockey in both the Two Harbors and Silver Bay programs (Cook County has been a part of the Silver Bay program at this level for many years). Typically Bantam teams are comprised of 8th and 9th graders, but with lower enrollment in area high schools some 9th graders are moving up to help feed their high school teams, which in turn creates a lower number of Bantams left to field their own team. When both the Two Harbors and Silver Bay programs were looking at their numbers at the end of last season the discussions started that the potential of a combined Bantam team could be a reality again, as it was four years ago, and so this team was created.
As usual when you combine skaters and their families from three different communities there is some doubt about how everyone will get along, work together and if the team will mesh the way you want it to. Due to experience and lots of extra scheduling work by our arena managers, Jessie Lundgren and Mike Guzzo, the awesome coaching staff of Erik Ollila, Will Hartman, Wade LeBlanc and Dave Dilley, as well as 20 committed hockey families it has not taken us long to figure out that this team works great and they are off to a fantastic 4 – 0 start for the season!
Above: Even falling down, Quaid Cavallin had the presence of mind to find Will Hartman with the puck. Left: Will Hartman deftly wields the puck through the Denfeld defenders as Nathan Bauck (19) gets ready to receive a pass.
The skaters on this team are: Evan Sandretsky, Nate Mealey, Will Peterson, Jesse Nordean, Danny Anderson, Quaid Cavallin, Ryan Rasmussen, Patrick Myers, Caleb Dilley, Jack Wieben, Troy LeBlanc, Tanner Aho, Frank Miller, Spencer Ketola, Justin Ketola, Nick Osbakken, Will Hartman, Carter LeBlanc, Nathan Bauck and Corey Napper.
Don’t miss an opportunity to see these boys in action; you will not be disappointed!
Upcoming Bantam Hockey action
Sunday, Dec. 4 | 2:00 p.m.
Ashland, WI
Sunday, Dec.11 | 1:30 p.m.
Rukavina Arena, Silver Bay
Leave a Reply