Seventy of the top 14-year-old hockey players from southeast Saskatchewan were in Estevan on February 9 and 10 for the Zone 1 selection camp.

Players were divided into four teams, and had a chance to build chemistry with each other during practice sessions on the 9th. Then each team had a couple scrimmages.

“I thought it was a great weekend,” said Brad Robinson, who is the director of operations for Zone 1. “The kids came out and gave it their all.”

Participants were divided into teams on an alphabetical basis, which meant that they could be facing teammates from their normal teams during the scrimmages. For example, there were several players from the Estevan TS&M Bantam AA Bruins on each squad during the scrimmages.

“There was a nice handful of players from Estevan,” Robinson said. “They all played very well.”

The scrimmages yielded some high-scoring games, but Robinson said the Zone 1 evaluators were looking for quality players, and not just players who scored a lot of goals in the selection camp.

Robinson said the team's evaluators had to some difficult decisions. There were some players who stood out from the outset, and quickly cemented their spot on the team. But the tough part would be selecting from a large group of players for the final few spots on the team.

The Zone 1 team was selected after the selection camp. They'll compete at a tournament in Regina from April 12 to 14 against entries from the other seven zones in the province.