Dawson Gerwing is presented with a special plaque as an All-Star at this year's Telus Cup West Regionals Tournament. (Submitted photo/Dawson Gerwing)

By Martin Martinson

Dawson Gerwing shines

M.L. hockey player named Telus Cup West Regionals All-Star

Apr 13, 2023 | 8:00 AM

Meadow Lake’s Dawson Gerwing has been named a tournament All-Star for his standout performance at the U18 AAA Telus Cup West Regionals.

Gerwing is coming off his first season of play with the Warman Wildcats U18 AAA team, who hosted this year’s tournament, also featuring the winners of the Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Northern Ontario AAA leagues, to determine who advances to the Telus Cup National Championship.

Despite entering the tournament based on their hosting duties after finishing the season fifth in the Sask U18 AAA League, the Wildcats hit the ground running in front of their home crowd, led in large part by the play of Gerwing and his eight points in four tournament games.

“I didn’t really have that many expectations going in, [and] didn’t really know about many of the teams we were going to be playing, so it was pretty cool for sure, and an honour,” Gerwing said of the recognition.

Following a 5-1 win over Winnipeg in their first of three round-robin games, Warman continued to roll in their second game, to the tune of a 5-2 victory over Thunder Bay as well.

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After Thunder Bay opened the scoring at 1-0 early, Gerwing tallied the tying goal midway through the second period to get the Wildcats’ offence rolling again.

Then in the final round-robin game, against the Sask AAA champion, Saskatoon Blazers, Gerwing again scored for his team, though they would ultimately fall 6-3.

In the tournament Finals against the same Blazers’ club, it was again the 16-year-old local making a big play on the tying goal in the final minute to send the game to overtime.

Gerwing deflected an outside shot from Carsyn Dyck to set up the rebound chance for Deegan Wapass’ hat trick-completing a 3-3 marker. Though Saskatoon would eventually win the game in the extra frame, Gerwing said all in all it was a pretty special run for the group.

“I wouldn’t say we had a lot of expectations going in, but it ended up going really well for us,” Gerwing said.

“Obviously not the result we wanted in the end, but to go that far was a fun ride. We didn’t really have any idea how good the Winnipeg or Thunder Bay teams were going to be, so to me, that really speaks to the strength of our league. We finished fifth and ended up beating them 5-1 and 5-2, so it was a good experience.”

The Regionals performance came following a whirlwind first season with the Wildcats for Gerwing after breaking into the U18 ranks with the Battlefords AAA Stars last season.

Starting the fall at Western Hockey League training camp with the Swift Current Broncos, who drafted him in the third round, 48^th overall, Gerwing returned to the AAA ranks for his 16-year-old season, finishing fourth in Wildcats’ scoring with 31 points (13G, 18A) in 44 games.

Prior to the Telus Regionals, he was called up to the Broncos for their final three games of the regular season to see their late-season push for the playoffs first-hand.

Gerwing said it’s just another of the valuable learning experiences from the year, watching the team close-up in the biggest games of the season, and getting to practice again with the group.

“Every game until the last one really mattered, so they didn’t really have any opportunity to throw some young guys looking to get games into the lineup, so I didn’t get any regular season games in, but it was a good experience,” he said.

“I got to practice with the team, and they talked to us prospects about the importance of getting those [standings] points earlier in the year so they’re in a better situation in the future, not playing due or die games down the stretch. That’s what I really took from the experience, it just really taught me to bring that intensity throughout the year.”

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Martin.Martinson@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @MartyMartyPxP1