Another up-and-coming forward is getting ready to play his first junior hockey season with the Lloydminster Bandits.
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Cash Parkin, a graduate of the Lloydminster Athletics hockey program and Holy Rosary High School, is among the rookies skating with the junior B Bandits.
Parkin’s debut was delayed this past weekend because he suffered an ankle injury in practice last week. For precautionary reasons, he sat out both games against the Wainwright Bisons as the Bandits posted shootout and overtime victories to open their Northeastern Alberta Junior B Hockey League regular season.
After scoring 14 goals and 38 points in 28 games last season with the U18 AAA Athletics in the Junior Prospects Hockey League, Parkin earned a tryout this summer with the Alberta junior A league’s Drayton Valley Thunder.
The Bandits have welcomed the 18-year-old Paradise Valley native for their maiden season at the Cenovus Energy Hub.
“He’ll be playing at centre,” coach Josh Dudding said of Parkin. “For a lot of training camp and pre-season games, we had him playing with (captain and top scorer) Joel Webb. Cash has a lot of speed, a lot of size, a lot of skill and one heck of a shot.
“At practice last week, there was a collision and Cash rolled his ankle. He just landed on it a little bit funny. It tweaked, a little bit swollen, so he decided out of precaution to step aside for the weekend and to play it safe.”
Parkin said after last Saturday’s OT win in Lloydminster that he hopes to be ready to go this weekend when the Bandits visit the St. Paul Canadiens (1-1) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday (Oct. 3).
The Bandits are also on the road next Thursday (Oct. 9) when they visit the Vermilion Tigers in an 8 p.m. start at the Vermilion Stadium.
The Tigers, who got off to a 3-0 start this season, lost to the Bandits last March in a semifinal that went the maximum seven games.
Early this season, Vermilion sandwiched a 2-1 win over reigning-champion Wainwright with 7-0 routs of the Vegreville Rangers and Cold Lake Ice.
DENNETT SKATING MILES
In multiple instances during Saturday’s game at the Hub, Bandits overage defenceman Kade Dennett showed the speed that’s made him known across the league.
“All the credit to Kade,” Dunningsaid of Dennett, who picked up two assists in Lloyd’s 3-2 overtime victory. “He’s been the (league’s) top defenceman the last two years. He was MVP last year. The kid can skate like the wind.
“And then, obviously with a nice, big, brand-new ice surface, we built (the Bandits) to be a fast team and hopefully use that to our advantage.”
Along with his fluid skating, the relatively small Dennett wasn’t afraid to mix it up against rival Wainwright. In the first period, he received a roughing penalty after clashing with 2005-born forward Ryker Singer, an ex-WHL major junior whom the Prince George Cougars selected in the first round of the 2020 prospects draft, 22nd overall.
With a quick shot from the point, the ever-dangerous Dennett also rang the puck off a post or the crossbar with less than nine minutes left in regulation time and the Bandits leading 2-1.
Webb, about five-foot-nine and 175 pounds himself, said Dennett is an example that speed can trump perceived size deficiencies.
“When you can skate, you can generate a lot of momentum,” said the Bandits’ captain. “That helps you when you’re a little underweight.”
SHOOTOUT CAPS COMEBACK
In their 4-3 shootout victory at Wainwright Peace Memorial Multiplex, the Bandits came back from a 3-0 second-period deficit. They roared back with three power-play goals, two from Aidan Martens and the other from Jayden Plamondon, a 56-point man last winter.
Plamondon and Martens, with the tying goal, scored within 37 seconds of each other with under seven minutes remaining in the third period.
After a scoreless overtime, the teams went to a five-round shootout, during which Adryan Bugiera and Bronson Parker scored for Lloydminster and Mason Ganser replied for Wainwright.
It was a memorable junior B debut for Bandits newcomer Haden Heide, who made 33 saves to register the first of his back-to-back wins against the Bisons.
Lochlan Jenner stopped 38 shots for Wainwright, which got goals from Singer, Lucas McClennon and Jesse Tkach in regulation time.
WORKING ON, OFF THE ICE
Junior B hockey players are multi-task masters as they often juggle full-time jobs and school obligations with weekly practices and games.
“All the guys on our team are trying to start a career, in a sense, whether they’re working already or going to school,” said Webb, an overage forward now in his fourth season with the Bandits and third as the captain.
“We’ve got lots of guys that are busy doing stuff. So, it’s hard to keep active during the summer and train when that’s your money-making season.”
Webb, no doubt, had one of the more interesting summer jobs.
“I run a small little business,” he said. “I spray for insects around lakes, like Jackfish and Turtle or Sandy, anywhere within a good radius of Lloyd. Any business I can get, I sure appreciate it.”
While that’s a big summer project for Webb, he’s recently sunk his teeth into another job. For the past month, he’s been working with Skyline Refrigeration, handling heating and air-conditioning needs for industrial clients.
It’s a measure of the diverse commitments for junior-aged players, especially at the junior B level.
“Exactly, it’s not just hockey,” Webb said. “It’s something that we can all come home from work and look forward to and enjoy together.”
It’s a big year for the Bandits. Next spring, April 1-5, they’ll host the Alberta junior B provincials in their new Hub home.
Even with the realities of adult life taking precedence, Lloydminster and Wainwright players illustrated in their intense battles last weekend just how much they still care about hockey. Especially when they’re up against many familiar faces from common experiences throughout minor hockey.
One of the more engaged Bisons physically last Saturday was Singer, a big-name player that Webb has known well since long before they faced each other in the 2024-25 league final, which Wainwright won in six games.
“Honestly, he used to be one of my best buddies growing up,” said Webb, 21. “But our junior B rivalry has accelerated and … it’s hard to stay friends when you’re playing against each other at that high of an intensity level.
“If you’re going to play your best, you’ve got to play like you mean it, really, and you can’t be soft on anyone.”
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