Blazers trio earn 'huge' honour

Murray Brown

submitted photo Balmoral Hall Blazers players (from left) Kati Tabin, Ryleigh Houston and Haley Studler have been named Junior Women�s Hockey League all-stars.

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Grant Calvert

FORWARDS Haley Studler and Ryleigh Houston and defenceman Kati Tabin of the Balmoral Hall Blazers have been named Junior Women's Hockey League all-stars.

The three players suited up for the North Division team in the all-star game Thursday at the Kettler Capitols Ice Complex in Washington, D.C.

"This is a huge achievement. The players in the all-star game are truly the best young female players in North America," Blazers head coach Gerry Wilson said in a release.

Wilson said Houston, a Grade 9 student, is a player with "exceptional potential and a very bright future playing hockey" and was the youngest Blazers player chosen for the JWHL team.

The event is held prior to the Challenge Cup female tournament this weekend in Washington, a showcase tournament of the top 24 teams in North America.

Other Manitoba teams competing in the tournament include the Winnipeg Avros of the Manitoba Female Midget Hockey League and the St. Mary's Flames.

Balmorall Hall lost in the semifinals last year to the tournament champion Burlington Barracudas from Ontario.

Brown, Calvert tops

MURRAY BROWN of Oak Park High School and Grant Calvert of Carberry Collegiate have been selected the Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association's January Subway high school coaches of the month.

Brown, named the top urban coach, has been coaching for 26 years and has guided the varsity girls basketball team to four tournament championships this season (Pembina Trails Invitational, Westwood Collegiate Tournament, JT Pipers and the Tri-Province Championship, in Edmonton). Oak Park is the No. 1-ranked team in the AAAA category.

Calvert was selected as top rural coach of the month after leading his Carberry boys' curling team to the provincial title last weekend at Gladstone.

He has coached the boys' curling team at the school for the last eight years, during which his teams have made six appearances in the provincials.

Urniezius busts records

Curtis Urniezius of Cartier set a pair of Manitoba junior men's indoor track and field records over the weekend at the Alberta Indoor Games in Edmonton.

The Manitoba Track and Field Association stated in a media release that Urniezius, who lives and trains in Lethbridge, Alta., set a record of 19.01 metres in the junior men's weight throw and a record of 15.58 metres in the junior men's shot put.

-- Ashley Prest

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