A Pelly woman, a Norquay woman, extended members of their families and many district friends will have their eyes on the Telus Cup championship hockey competition in New Brunswick beginning Monday.
Brody Vogel, 17, of Saskatoon, who is a great-grandson of Ann Vogel of Pelly and June How of Norquay, will be a right wing on the Saskatoon Contacts team, one of six teams seeking the Cup during the tournament being played in Quispamsis, New Brunswick April 18 to 24.
The son of Tyson Vogel, and grandson of former Kamsack residents Wendy and Lorne Vogel, Brody helped the Contacts win the Telus Cup West Regionals held March 31 to April 3at Rod Hamm Memorial Arena in Saskatoon.
The Saskatoon Contacts, which is a team of the Saskatchewan AAA Midget League, faced off against the Kenora Thistles of Ontario; the Winnipeg Wild, and the Notre Dame Hounds in round robin play, Tyson Vogel said last week. The two top teams, the Contacts and the Winnipeg Wild, which had been the favourite, met in the final game, which the Contacts won 4-3 in double overtime.
A crowd of 1,000 packed the arena and witnessed a back-and-forth battle between the host Contacts and the Manitoba-champion Wild, said a story on the Contacts’ webpage.
Brody, who has been playing hockey since he was five years of age, comes from a hockey family. His grandfather, Lorne, and his Uncle Bernie Vogel are past members of the Kamsack Flyers hockey team.
“He’s very excited,” his father said, adding that he plans to be in New Brunswick to watch the tournament.
“Brody is a very good athlete,” said Marc Chartier, his coach. “He’s a great kid and he is a double athlete, playing baseball during the summer.
“Whenever I tell him something, he would do it,” Chartier said, adding that last year Brody had great success with the Saskatoon River Kings which had “won everything.
“We’ll be playing seven games in seven days in New Brunswick,” he said. “It’s anybody’s tournament.
“We go to win and we’ve got a good group to do it with.”
