Players match talent on ice

Page 2

The Olds Grizzlys were trying to repeat as Alberta Junior Hockey League champions. The Ft. Saskatchewan Traders were trying to unseat them. And two native kids with bright futures were trying to maintain their focus on this season and this series.

Eric Fulton, a 20-year-old forward in his fourth year as a Grizzly, wants another shot at the Centennial Cup, the national "Tier Two" championship. Born in Prince Albert, Sask., and raised in Innisfail, just north of Olds, Fulton will attend northern Michigan next year on a full hockey scholarship. He visited the campus for a few days this winter and took in a hockey game. He is confident he will be able to contribute there. "The school will probably be tougher than the hockey," he says with a smile.

But it's business as usual until the season is over. One of the AJHL's premier forwards, Fulton relaxed with a friend in the Olds dressing room before game four of the final. The opposition Traders had won the first three games. As usual, the Grizzlys were relying on Fulton to lead them in turning things around.

Fulton led the AJHL in regular-season scoring this year after finishing second to line mate Reo Lajeunesse in 1991/92. "This year, we flip-flopped," said the rock-solid skater, who is just under 5'11" but weighs in at 190 lbs.

"Eric's the playmaker and Reo's the sniper,"said Olds coach Chris Stewart, in his ninth year behind an AFHL bench. "But Eric is the most valuable player I've ever coached. He can be a totally dominating player." Key positives to Fulton's game are his immense strength on the puck, his unselfishness and his ability to see the ice intelligently.

In the other dressing room, Traders' 16-year-old defenceman Sheldon Souray is finishing his first year in the AJHL. It will likely also be the last for the native of Fishing Lake, Alta., who now lives in Edmonton; he'll play in the "Tier One" Western Hockey League with the Tri-Cities Americans in 1993-94.

Souray doesn't get very many points. But he doesn't have to. He is a defensive defenceman, who played in the Rocky Mountain Junior Hockey League last year with Quesnel after a brief stint with the Traders. A towering figure on the ice even at 16, Souray patrols the front of the net, clears the puck, and sees his role as stopping the other team from scoring. "My size gives me room out there," he said.

Souray started 1992-93 with the Americans, but played only three games in two months. The Traders have given the young man the ice time he needed to develop.

He plays like his favorites in the NHL, Al lafrate and Dave Manson, both big, tough blueliners. "But I have to improve my skating, my mobility," he said. "I've worked on them in the past, with Perry Pearn (Canada National Olympic Coach) last summer, and I'll be working on them this summer.

Fulton will suit up against the B.C. champions after this series. But both he and Souray will be playing a higher brand of hockey next year.

The Olds Grizzlys fought back from a 3-0 losing streak to take the Alberta Junior Hockey League championship from the Traders in the final four games of the series.

They are the first team in a decade to win back-to-back titles in the league, and the win was a sweet one. The Grizzlys defeated the Traders 4-2 in the deciding game of the best-of-seven final held at the Fort Saskatchewan Recreation Centre April 18.

The Grizzlys go on to compete in a best-of-seven Centennial Cup series this month against the B.C. Junior League champion Kelowna Spartans.