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Teen scores gold at street hockey championships

Garin Butler plays hockey 365 days a year. When the 18-year-old Westlock native isn’t playing defence for the Junior ‘A’ Bonnyville Pontiacs, he’s on the hard court, stickhandling his way through the upper echelons of international youth ball hockey.
garin butler
Garin Butler, 18, proudly displays the gold medal he won at the 2018 International Street and Ball Hockey Federation (ISBHF) World Junior Ball Hockey Championships, held July 5-8 in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

Garin Butler plays hockey 365 days a year.

When the 18-year-old Westlock native isn’t playing defence for the Junior ‘A’ Bonnyville Pontiacs, he’s on the hard court, stickhandling his way through the upper echelons of international youth ball hockey.

Butler returned home with a gold medal last week from the 2018 International Street and Ball Hockey Federation (ISBHF) World Junior Ball Hockey Championships, held July 5-8 in St. John’s, Newfoundland, where he represented Team Canada against international rivals.

“It’s pretty incredible. It takes a lot to get there,” said Butler.

He was scouted and then selected out of more than 24,000 youth eager to show off their skills for Team Canada scouts.

“Last year I started playing ball hockey for a team in Edmonton and that team ended up going to nationals in Kitchener and I got selected by the head scout for Team Canada.”

Team Canada made its way through the world junior tournament quite handily, taking on all comers, and winning. The team’s closest game came against the Czech Republic in the round robin portion of the event, but Canada prevailed by one goal.

Butler’s squad played the same Czech team in the final, winning 3-1.

“They’re a really strong team, but our defence was great that game,” he said.

“We got on the board fairly early, then they got on the board pretty quickly too. It was 1-1 for a while and then in the third we scored again. We had lots of penalties in the third period, so we were on the kill. They were giving it to us, but eventually, with three minutes left, we got another goal, which sealed it for us.”

Butler said he was proud to represent Canada on the international stage and was happy to see fans show their love for the Canadian team on home soil.

“The atmosphere was crazy too. Lots of parents came over from the Czech Republic too, so they had their chants going, then Canada would do their chant and respond. It was pretty cool,” said Butler.

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