Raymond Knights claim U13 hockey provincial title with win over Vermillion

Posted on March 26, 2026 by admin

Garrett Simmons
Westwind Weekly News

The U13 Raymond Knights claimed the Hockey Alberta Provincial Championship with a big 8-6 win Sunday over the Vermillion Tigers.

Raymond used a big first period to propel the team to the “C” gold medal, as Karl Russell Jr. scored the game’s first goal, assisted by Michael Bevans, to put the Knights up 1-0. After Vermillion tied things up, Cooper Rodeback scored an unassisted marker, Casey Vandenhoek added another and Rodeback wrapped up the period with his second to give the Knights a 4-1 lead after 20. Rodeback and John Baldry assisted on Raymond’s third goal, while Russell Jr. and Brixden Manning drew the helpers on the fourth goal.

In the second, Vermillion made a game out of it with two early goals, to make it a 4-3 game.

Before the period was up, Russell Jr. scored to make it 5-3, on a goal assisted by Vandenhoek. Then, Rodeback struck for a shorthanded goal, assisted by Jordan Schmidt, as Raymond extended its lead to 6-3 after 40 minutes.

But once again, Vermillion had a hot start to a period, as the Tigers scored the first two goals of the third to climb to within 6-5.

Bevans scored two straight goals for the Knights, however, to put the game out of reach. Rodeback assisted on the 7-5 goal, while Russell Jr. picked up a helper on Raymond’s eighth goal, a powerplay marker.

Vermillion added a goal with 3:46 left on the clock but it was too little, too late, as Jordan Schmidt made 32 saves in goal to preserve the victory.

The win in the gold-medal game capped a perfect weekend for Raymond, as the Knights kicked off play with a 17-2 win over the Northwest Warriors. Russell Jr. and Bevans both had eight points in the contest to lead the way, while Scarlett Hofer made 14 saves in 40 minutes of action. Schmist made five saves in one period of play.

Raymond then took down Millwoods by a score of 10-1, as Bevans had six points and Rodeback picked up five. Schmidt played all 60 minutes in goal and made 22 saves.

Against Grande Prairie, Raymond picked up an 8-3 win. Russell Jr. paced the attack with four points. Rodeback and Bevans added three points each. Schmidt faced 18 shots in the contest.

Raymond’s dominating tournament continued with a 9-2 win over Drumheller. This time, Rodeback picked up five points and two players, Bevans and Russell Jr., collected two points each.

Schmidt made 13 saves and Hofer made 19 stops, as the two goaltenders split duties between the pipes.

When all was said and done, Raymond finished provincials at 5-0 and led the tournament with 52 goals scored and a plus-38 goal differential.