The happiest man in a Drumheller jersey last Friday night didn’t play a minute of the Dragons’ 5-4 win over the host Lloydminster Bobcats in Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) action at the Hub.
Read more: Big crowds track Bobcats’ so-so weekend
Brayden Gramlich, who just turned 17 at the end of January, made his AJHL debut as he dressed as goaltender Brandon Williams’ backup.
A day earlier, Drumheller coach and general manager Kevin Hasselberg contacted Gramlich’s coach with the U17 AAA Lloydminster Lancers, Jason Ross, to request Gramlich’s services in his hometown.
“I was off school (last week) and I was taking my brother to get his car in at Herle’s,” replayed Gramlich after the game. “I get a call from my dad and he’s, like, ‘Answer your phone.’
“This was Thursday, around noonish. That’s when (my Lloyd) coach was trying to get a hold of me, saying, ‘Hey, you’ve got an opportunity tomorrow. Make the most of it.’ I’m, like, ‘Perfect, sounds good, I’ll be there.’
“It was a pretty cool experience, an opportunity for me. AJ — I mean, that’s pretty cool. I thought it was pretty sweet.”
The junior A opportunity arose in the absence of Dragons’ injured goaltender Sean Cootes.
Gramlich, who went on to rejoin the U17 AAA Lancers for their Alberta Elite Hockey League games Saturday and Sunday, was thrilled to spend Friday night watching junior A action from ice level.
“It was just for tonight, because we’re here and it was pretty convenient that I wasn’t playing with my U17 team today,” he said.
“It’s unexpected, I’d say, for the opposing team. But it was pretty fun, getting to watch both teams, especially the Bobcats. It was pretty cool. I practised with them for two weeks last year, but to be on the opposite side of it, it was different.
“Back in the Civic (Centre) last year, the Bobcats were short one goalie, so they brought me up for two weeks. I didn’t get to play a game, but I was practising and I got to meet some of the guys. It was pretty fun.”
Hasselberg made a connection with Gramlich last summer in Edmonton when the young goalie participated in the Visionary Sports Top Prospects showcase.
“He volunteered to be a coach on the bench, so he was my coach then,” said Gramlich, a Grade 11 student at Holy Rosary High School. “That’s when we first met. We actually won the whole thing.”
The Lloyd boy was otherwise unfamiliar with the Dragons’ personnel as he met up with the players Friday at the Hub.
“I can’t put a name on any of them,” Gramlich said with a smile. “My first time meeting them all.
“It was pretty good (just the same). A very welcoming group. I mean, I got in the dressing room and it was handshakes, ‘Hello, hey, how are you?’ It was a cool experience.”
As they left the Hub at 10 p.m. Friday, multiple Dragons thanked Gramlich and wished him well the rest of the way in his U17 AAA season.
He and those Lancers have had a productive second half of the season, even though they dropped two games on the past weekend.
Gramlich was between the pipes Saturday in Edmonton for a 5-3 loss to the first-place CAC Canadians, and he came on in relief Sunday at Lloyd during a 5-4 overtime defeat against the Sherwood Park Squires.
In the game versus CAC, the Canadians’ goaltender was Daniel Marsden, who was called up to the AJHL’s Fort McMurray Oil Barons in mid-February. He dressed as Brendan Gee’s backup in Fort Mac’s 3-1 victory over the Drayton Valley Thunder.
Gramlich, pushing five-foot-10 and about 150 pounds, might not be the biggest goalie, but he’s standing out just the same as he climbs the hockey ladder.
“I’m not that tall, so I have to play depth,” he said. “I’d say I’m a faster goaltender. I have to play my angles, my depth. I have to keep that in mind. Take the extra step, just because I’m smaller. I have to make the sense that I’m taking up more of the net.”
His mind is focused on a strong finish with the Lancers (15-12-5), who have one more weekend left in the regular season before playoffs begin.
Matonovich’s replacement was Trent Peterson, a 20-year-old Wisconsin native who made his AJHL debut after joining the Bobcats from the NAHL just a couple of weeks ago. The new tandem faced a combined 31 shots in Lloyd’s net.
Matonovich, who needed to be helped off the ice after the second period, went into the past weekend with some of the best goaltending statistics in the AJHL.
Canmore went 2-0-1 during its weekend road trip, while playing without some key personnel. In the absence of extra help, the Eagles’ long-serving coach, Andrew Milne, was packing sticks after the game.
“We’ve got 19 guys with us on the road, no extra bodies to help, so we’ve got to help out wherever we can,” said Milne, now in his 18th season behind the Canmore bench.
His 17-year-old son, Easton, is a rookie centre with the Eagles.
“It was probably a lot harder on him than it is on me, having been around so long,” said coach Milne. “He’s new to this whole junior experience. The one thing I keep saying with Easton is guys appreciate work ethic, and he’s definitely a hard-working kid. The guys have made it pretty comfortable for him. He’s having a blast.”
Canmore has lost 20-year-old defencemen Casey Black and Carter Kowalyk to season-ending injuries that necessitated surgery.
Evan Markel, an 18-year-old blue-liner, has a knee injury, while 20-year-old D-man Reid Larson is close to coming back from a broken hand, Milne reported.
“So, we do have some guys that are banged up, for sure, and that puts us in a tough spot. We’re not going to see Kowalyk or Black back, but we’ll get Markel and Larson back in the lineup.
“Then, you get a guy like Keeler who’s only going to play 20 minutes (per game), and you’re going to get a real good 20 minutes out of him, versus the 30 he played today.”
DRAGONS 5, BOBCATS 4
In Friday’s game at the Hub, Jase Johnstone scored two goals for Drumheller, including the winner on a feed from Bradley Gallo with just under five minutes remaining. Johnstone and Gallo, with three assists, each had three-point games as the Dragons avenged a 3-1 loss to Lloydminster the previous Friday.
“It’s a tough barn to play in,” Johnstone, 19, said about the Hub. “We’ve been working on stuff all week, for playing against (the Bobcats), and it’s good to see some results.
“It’s a new rink, it’s loud, the team is fast and hard to play against. It was a fun game.”
Down to nine forwards in the third period, Drumheller battled injuries before and during the game.
Johnstone is a second-year Dragon from Whitehorse, Yukon, where his hockey and school friends growing up included Luke Cozens of the Medicine Hat Tigers and former Tigers star Gavin McKenna, the projected top pick in this year’s NHL draft.
“I love it here,” he said about playing in Drumheller. “It’s a fun team to play for, for sure. It’s pretty similar (to home). It’s small town. It’s good. I like it.”
Allen Sherpa, Sullivan Humeniuk and Nathan Ivey also scored for the Dragons. Screpnek, with two, Elefante and Gus El-Tahhan netted the Bobcats’ goals. Luke Dooley had two assists as part of his three-point weekend.
Brandon Williams stopped 36 shots for Drumheller, while Matonovich blocked 29 for Lloyd.
OVERTIME: The Hub’s weekend crowds were 1,350 on Friday and 1,035 on Sunday. … Bonnyville has lost 18-year-old forward Lucas Knorr to the BCHL’s Coquitlam Express. … Grande Prairie defenceman Reily Pickford of Chauvin, Alta., is the AJHL’s rookie of the week. Pickford, 18, scored a goal and three assists in the host Storm’s 9-2 win over Devon on Sunday.
Read more: U18 AAA Lancers punch playoff ticket on final day of season
