Captain of the Battlefords AAA Stars, Dayne Henry will suit up for Saskatchewan for a third straight year at the 2024 National Aboriginal Hockey Championship. (Martin Martinson/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Martin Martinson

National stage awaits

Four AAA Stars named to Team Sask for National Aboriginal Hockey Championship

Feb 22, 2024 | 3:11 PM

Four members of the Battlefords AAA Stars have been selected to represent Team Saskatchewan this spring, at the 2024 National Aboriginal Hockey Championship (NAHC), May 5-11 in Grande Prairie, Alta.

Stars’ captain Dayne Henry and first-year AAA forward Henry Thunderblanket will return from last year’s Saskatchewan team that finished just outside the podium, in fourth place in Winnipeg, while fellow first-year Stars Devante Pratt and Waylon Gardipy will make their debut donning the Team Sask. jersey.

Thunderblanket, whose family is from nearby Sweetgrass First Nation, scored four points (one goal, three assists) at last year’s NAHC tournament, and currently has 20 points (seven goals, 13 assists) in 42 games with the AAA Stars this season. He called last year’s experience a valuable one, and something he’s used as further motivation to make the squad again this year.

“It was a great experience,” Thunderblanket said reflecting back. “I didn’t play much in the first three games, but I got comfortable [as the tournament went along] and started playing more and it built lots of confidence. The team fell short as we lost in the bronze medal game, so I really wanted to play in this tournament again this year and I want to bring home a medal – hopefully the gold – this time around.”

For Pratt, who currently sits fifth in Stars’ scoring with 26 points (11 goals, 15 assists) in 41 games, making the Saskatchewan roster fulfills a personal goal he set heading into the year, after being one of the later cuts to the roster in his first try-out a season ago, representing the Battlefords product’s growth of his game over the last year.

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“I put in a lot of work this summer. I moved to Saskatoon to train four times a week on-ice, and I was with a good group of guys training, and I think it’s showed this winter,” Pratt said of his development.

“It means a lot to be able to represent Saskatchewan and my culture in Grande Prairie, and it’s nice to get to play alongside a few guys from my team. Being able to experience it with those three other guys means a lot, and to be able to represent the Battlefords AAA Stars organization, it’s a great look for us and the organization and hopefully we can come back with the gold medal.”

The NAHC will feature eight teams from across Canada at the 2024 tournament. Saskatchewan will compete against the top U18 Indigenous hockey talent from B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Eastern Door and the North (Quebec First Nations and Inuit), Nunavut, and Team Atlantic (Maritimes).

The full Team Sask roster can be found here.

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Martin.Martinson@pattisonmedia.com

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