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Youth hockey tournaments abound: Admission free to see 3 levels of hockey at Lakeview Arena this weekend

Landon Carpenter of the Marquette American Legion Junior Wildcats, second from right, takes a faceoff during a Bantam AA game against the Portage Lake Flyers earlier this season. (Derek Cardinal photo)

This weekend: For all 3 age levels at Lakeview Arena (admission free to all games):

• Friday starting at 5:30 p.m., Marquette vs. Calumet

• Saturday starting at 3 p.m., Calumet plays Copper Country

• Sunday starting at 8:30 a.m., Marquette plays CC

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MARQUETTE — Lakeview Arena will be the place to be this weekend if you’re looking to watch a whole lot of Upper Peninsula youth travel hockey.

And you can do it for free.

The Marquette arena’s two rinks will host nine teams across three age divisions in U.P. district tournaments at the AA level with berths in the state Michigan Amateur Hockey Association finals at stake.

A team from Marquette Junior Hockey, Copper Country Junior Hockey and Calumet Hockey will be entered in each of the 10-under Squirt AA, 12-under Pee Wee AA and 14-under Bantam AA events.

Three games are scheduled in each tourney — a total of nine — as three games will be played on Friday, on Saturday and on Sunday.

Winners advance to the MAHA state tournaments, most scheduled for the first half of March. Each tourney is scheduled to include eight teams, seven from the state’s districts plus the host team.

Houghton and Hancock — the Portage Lake association — will host the Bantam tourney from March 11-13, so that district will actually send two teams to the state finals.

Here is a rundown of each district tourney, including schedules, with information provided from Marquette Junior Hockey:

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Squirt AA — 10U

The RMS Marquette Junior Wildcats are considered the favorite in an event that also includes the Semco Energy Portage Lake Flyers and Calumet Junior Kings.

Coach Adam Carpenter’s Junior Wildcats were the regular season champions of the Northern International Hockey League with a 10-2 record while winning three tourney titles — Marquette Iron Sticks, Green Bay Tundra Tussle and Appleton Sconie Classic — and runner-up at the CCM World Invite Wisconsin.

“The coaching staff is proud of the effort that all the players have shown so far this season,” Carpenter said, “and look forward to a competitive district tournament.”

The Jr. Wildcats help open the weekend with a 5:30 p.m. game Friday against Calumet at Lakeview’s Olson Arena.

On Saturday, Calumet faces Portage Lake at 3:30 p.m. in the Russell Arena, with round-robin play finishing at 8:30 a.m. Sunday with the Wildcats facing PL at Russell.

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Pee Wee AA — 12U

The Pat’s Foods Portage Lake Flyers are considered the favorites in this division with their nifty 32-5-1 record and No. 1 AA ranking in the state.

Joining the Calumet Junior Kings in the field are the Josh Bal-coached Superior Hockey Marquette Junior Wildcats with a solid 24-17-2 record.

The Wildcats were runners-up at the Marquette Iron Sticks tourney and semifinalist at the CCM World Invite Wisconsin.

The Marquette team plays at 5:30 p.m. Friday at the Russell Arena vs. Calumet, while Calumet faces Portage Lake at 5 p.m. Saturday at Russell Arena.

The event wraps up with the Wildcats facing Portage Lake at 1:30 p.m. Sunday in Russell.

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Bantam AA — 14U

The state- and nationally-ranked Marquette American Legion Junior Wildcats have to be considered the favorite at this level. The locals are 35-8-2 and ranked No. 3 in Michigan and No. 32 in the nation from ratings gleaned from myhockeyrankings.com, according to coach Jon Nebel.

Also in the field are the G&J Site Solutions Portage Lake Flyers and Calumet Junior Kings.

The Legion ‘Cats were NIHL regular season champions and won the Wisconsin Early Bird, Marquette Iron Sticks and CCM World Invite Wisconsin tournaments.

With a goal differential of 279-79, they are led by Landon Carpenter with 113 points on 56 goals and 57 assists. Four other players — Owen Potulny, Corbin Gephart, Nolan Bink and Kyle Moyer — all have at least 60 points. And goalies Cully Hayes and Parker Nevenhoven each have at least 17 wins with Hayes sporting a 1.26 goals against average and .926 saves percentage.

“The players are extremely excited to be able to play in front of their home crowd for the district tournament,” Nebel said. “We know each team we play will give us their very best effort and we need to be prepared.”

Marquette opens it run against Calumet at 7 p.m. Friday in the Russell Arena, while on Saturday, Calumet faces Portage Lake at 3 p.m. at Olson Arena.

Then on Sunday, Marquette and PL square off at 10 a.m. in Russell.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.

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