Even with both of his linemates nicknamed Parks, there still isn’t any confusion for Jake Redden in his rookie season with the junior b Lloydminster Bandits.
Read more: Redden scores hat trick in junior B Bandits’ victory
It was all clear for Redden on Sunday evening as his hat trick powered the Bandits to an 8-3 victory over the Killam Wheat Kings and advanced Lloyd to the Northeastern Alberta Junior B Hockey League final.
“Yeah, this is a big one,” Redden said about his second three-goal performance in a month. “It was good. It was fun to get it. We played well as a team all series.”
Friends on and off the ice with fellow freshmen Cash Parkin and Colton Parker, the Kid Line has played with maturity in a big year for the Bandits, hosts of the Alberta junior B championship tournament April 1-5 at the Hub.
“A good line,” said Redden, a 17-year-old in his senior year of high school. “Awesome guys. My best friends, through connections over the years and getting bonded this year.”
Up next, the Bandits and Vermilion Tigers go against each other in the league’s best-of-seven final, though both teams are already guaranteed berths in provincials.
Lloydminster and Vermilion each posted 4-1 series victories in their respective best-of-seven semifinals. The Bandits finished off the Wheat Kings one day after the Tigers toppled the Wainwright Bisons 4-2 to end that series Saturday night at Vermilion Stadium.
POWWOW SHIFTS GAME 1 TO VERMILION
Lloyd won a tight race with Vermilion to take the regular-season pennant, but the opening game of the league final is scheduled for Vermilion this Saturday night. The Hub, the Bandits’ home rink, isn’t available this weekend because the new showcase arena is hosting a powwow.
The plan is for both games 2 and 3 to be played in Lloydminster, but even those dates weren’t confirmed early this week because the Hub ice times next week were dependent on whether the junior A Lloydminster Bobcats open their playoffs at home or on the road.
Although the Bandits finished 30-plus points ahead of the Wheat Kings in the junior B regular season, their second-round playoff series proved to be more competitive than projected. Most notably, Killam won Game 3 in overtime at home.
“Yeah, Killam is a good team,” Redden said. “They’ve got a couple of really good players, and then a couple of players that are just hard to play against. They made it a series, that’s for sure.”
The Bandits’ depth prevailed, especially in the friendly confines of the Hub.
Lloyd’s top scorer in the regular season, Adryan Bugiera, believes that the Bandits saw two different Wheat Kings teams in the series, depending on the game location.
“Yeah, in our rink, they were pretty easy to handle,” said Bugiera, 19. “When we went out there (to Killam), it was a little tougher — smaller rink, bouncy boards, loud and definitely aggressive. Just a way different team. And we knew that going in.”
Now facing a Vermilion team loaded with familiar faces from minor hockey and school over the years, the Bandits know the Tigers well, and vice-versa.
“Yeah, you betcha,” Bugiera said. “Eighty per cent of that (Tigers) team, I’ve played with or went to school with. I mean, Game 7 last year at the Civic (Centre) was unreal.
“Actually, in the (dressing) room just now, Dudds (coach Josh Dudding) said that this (Hub) rink is going to be 1,000-plus fans every night. No matter if it’s a weekday or a Sunday game, it doesn’t matter. It’ll be good. A lot of local talent both ways. Yeah, it’ll be fun.”
Bugiera and his contemporaries went to Vermilion on Saturday to watch the Tigers finish off the Bisons, the perennial champions. Likewise, members of the Tigers, including coach Danny Haygarth, were scouting the Bandits on Sunday at the Hub.
“They’re a good team,” Bugiera said about Vermilion. “It’s going to be tough, playing them.”
After the U18 AAA Lancers were eliminated from their Alberta Elite Hockey League playoffs, the Tigers added defenceman Rhett Romanchuk and forward Kael Scott to their lineup.
The Bandits are also ready to call on as many as four affiliated players from the Lancers, if necessary, during the junior B team’s playoff run, coach Dudding reported Sunday night.
John MacNeil Meridian Source
‘EVERYTHING HAS BEEN PERFECT HERE’
Redden played with the Lancers before skating with the U18 AAA St. Albert Raiders for the early part of this season. He eventually decided to return home to Lloyd and joined the Bandits in early December.
With injuries no longer stopping him, the solidly built Redden hasn’t missed a beat at the junior B level. He scored seven goals and 14 points in 14 regular-season games, before adding five goals in as many playoff games.
“It’s been fun,” said Redden, six-foot-two and about 200 pounds.
“I thank the coaches. They’ve been awesome to me. Everything has been perfect here. It’s made me realize where I belong. The boys in (the dressing room), they’re all my best friends. Yeah, I’d do anything for anyone in there. It’s been awesome.”
Although he participated in the junior A Bonnyville Pontiacs’ training camp last fall, Redden plans to remain a Bandit beyond this season. The Lloydminster Comprehensive High School senior is bound for Lakeland College to study agriculture.
“I’m with the Bandits here for good now,” he said with a smile. “I’ll be staying here. They’ve put a lot into me here already, so they deserve me, and I deserve them, I feel like.”
That’s good news for the Bandits, who are that much stronger with Redden on board.
“Jake is a big frame, a big body, so he can take the puck to the net,” Dudding said. “He can score in a whole lot of different ways, so it was good to see him find the back of the net tonight, kind of in bunches. Hopefully, that continues.”
As they left the Hub on Sunday night, the Bandits welcomed a solid test in the final against the Tigers.
“Vermilion has got some real high-end players,” Redden said. “I think we can match it. We’re just going to have to try to use our home rink to our advantage.”
Last year, the Bandits outlasted the Tigers in a marathon seven-game semifinal, before losing to Wainwright in a championship series that lasted six games.
“It was a great matchup all year,” Dudding said about this year’s finalists. “We were 3-3 in the season series. I think we won the last two, but (Vermilion) is another smaller arena and (the Tigers) play it to a T.
“They’re a loaded team, kind of like what we are. If you look at the standings, it’s one-versus-two in the final. It’s going to be great hockey and a ton of fans, which is a cool atmosphere for the guys to play in. It’ll be interesting, because there’s a lot of friends on both sides.
“Whether Vermilion wins or whether we win, this league has got really good representation going to provincials.”
One of the quirks in the provincial schedule, however, is that it doesn’t include a head-to-head matchup between Lloydminster and Vermilion in the preliminary round, during which each of the six teams plays four games.
“The provincial committee told us that’s how it’s going to be set up,” Dudding said of the directive from Hockey Alberta.
“The only time we would see (Vermilion) is in the bronze-medal game or the gold-medal game.”
He listed possible additions to the Bandits down the stretch. Those affiliates from the Lancers include goaltender Asher Ammann, forwards Logan Flewell and Gavin Pratt, and versatile forward/defenceman Aiden Harman.
“All of those guys have aspirations of playing junior A as well, so (skating with us in the meantime) keeps them in shape going into summer camps and spring camps,” Dudding said.
CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES SCHEDULE
After the opener at 7:30 p.m. Saturday (March 14) in Vermilion Stadium, and the to-be-announced second and third games in Lloydminster, the remaining schedule for the best-of-seven final is:
Game 4 — Saturday, March 21, at Vermilion Stadium, 7:30 p.m.
x-Game 5 — Monday, March 23, at Lloydminster Hub, 8 p.m.
x-Game 6 — Wednesday, March 25, at Vermilion Stadium, 7:30 p.m.
x-Game 7 — Friday, March 27, at Lloydminster Hub, 7:30 p.m.
x — denotes if necessary.
Read more: Bandits outlast Tigers in playoff-like battle
