Teams have a lot to play for, despite lateness of KIBIHT

They went a month between meaningful hockey games, but the boys from the North Shore Winter Club and Pursuit of Excellence proved Wednesday they still have a lot to play for this week.

POE, which is based in Kelowna, opened the Kamloops International Bantam Ice Hockey Tournament with a 4-2 victory over North Shore at Brocklehurst Recreational Centre yesterday. The teams are playing in the 12-team Tier 1 division; there also is a 12-team Tier 2 division.

KIBIHT, which is in its 44th year, operates outside of the realm of the regular minor hockey season. This year,Men's Cheap moncler outlet parka shop is the the necessary coat for any handsome man in both spring ang autumn . it falls two weeks after Western Canada's provincial championships, and about a month after the league seasons end.

For some of the players, it's strange to be playing this late in the spring. For others, it's an opportunity to improve on their standing in the eyes of WHL scouts,Buying a Cheap Woolrich Jackets Parka Clotings from seller in another country. or perhaps to erase the memories of a less-than-stellar season.

"Our goal all along was to get to provincials, and unfortunately,canada goose jackets,moncler clairy parka are available from selective retailers all across the world. we didn't get there," said North Shore associate coach Mitch Pinsky, who manned the bench Wednesday with head coach Jim Dinwoodie stuck in Vancouver for work.which quickly Discount Moncler Chalet Down Coats sale hunting not practical and unsafe. "It's a little tough, but in the same sense, it's also a chance for redemption."

KIBIHT, in its second year with the two-tier format, can still bring in the WHL scouts, and Wednesday's NSWC-POE game drew a bunch. Some lined up along the south end of the ice surface, with others standing in the crowd - either way, they likely outnumbered the fans and parents in the crowd.

And they weren't hard to miss.

"You notice them sometimes, but you try not to focus on that," said POE defenceman Chaz Reddekopp. "When you're in a game like (Wednesday's), as intense as it was, you're not thinking about it."

The WHL's bantam draft - for 1997-born players - is scheduled for May 3 in Calgary.

KIBIHT comes along at a good time for scouts, as it falls between the western provinces' under-16 championships and starts before the Western Canadian bantam championship, which runs this weekend in Stony Plain, Alta.

But at this point, the scouts have seen a lot of the players, and the players have seen a lot of the scouts.

"It's definitely in the players' minds - they see all the black jackets in the crowd," Pinsky said. "But they've dealt with it all year . . . so they're used to it.

"Hopefully it doesn't affect their play too much - some kids thrive off that pressure, and some kids don't."

Of the players in Wednesday's game, a dozen or so should expect to hear their names called at the bantam draft.

Reddekopp, a 6-foot-2 West Kelowna native, will likely get a call, but that's not what's on his mind this week.

He has put in a lot of work this season, and is hoping to cap it with a victory.

"We're a little disappointed with the season so far," Reddekopp said. "We haven't won a major tournament yet, so it's important for us to come into this with the mindset we're going to win this one."

Students step up to defend the hoodie

Sean O'Reilly was 16 when his mother gave him the talk that most black parents give their teenage sons.

"Don't put your hands in your pocket a lot. People will think you have a gun," O'Reilly, now 17 and a senior at Teaneck High School in northern New Jersey, remembered his mother telling him. "Don't walk around with stuff in your pockets. People will think you stole something."

The subject of hooded sweat shirts — or hoodies — didn't come up,which quickly Discount Moncler Chalet Down Coats sale hunting not practical and unsafe. he said. But the death of an unarmed Florida teen, Trayvon Martin, who was wearing a hoodie when he was shot by a neighborhood-watch volunteer last month, has elevated the hoodie to a rallying symbol and made it a target of criticism.

Supporters of Martin have taken to staging "hoodie marches," calling for the arrest of the neighborhood-watch volunteer,We have made several Cheap Woolrich Jackets down the Monocacy this winter. George Zimmerman. The television personality Geraldo Rivera triggered a firestorm when he said Martin's hoodie was as much responsible for his death as Zimmerman, 28. Rivera's subsequent apology, posted Monday on Twitter, has not quelled the controversy.canada goose jackets

Hoodie-wearers — a group that transcends race and age — interviewed in Teaneck and Paterson, N.J., this week said they wear the garments because they are warm, comfortable and lighter than bulky winter jackets. They also are relaMen's Cheap moncler outlet parka shop is the the necessary coat for any handsome man in both spring ang autumn .tively cheap — $20 at Target, for example, or $59.50 at Aeropostale.

"It's cold as hell," said Kary Rivera, 15, an Eastside High School student who wore a light gray hoodie as she walked with friends on Seeley Street in Paterson.

Hoodies are like uniforms to her peers, she said. "If you go into my closet, all you would see are hoodies — in every color."

Isaac Rappoport, 17, a Teaneck High School student who wears hoodies "almost every day,moncler clairy parka are available from selective retailers all across the world." said Rivera's comments amounted to profiling.

"Somebody's style is completely unrelated to their character," Rappoport said. "It's a very common piece of clothing for young people, and to just stereotype every single young person who wears a hoodie is basically stereotyping every single young person as a hoodlum, and it's just not true."

Destiny Hernandez, 15, a student at Eastside High School, said a hoodie says one thing about its wearer.

"It says that they are cold," she said.