The Saskatchewn Hockey Association in conjunction with the Sask First High-Performance program announced the top one-hundred sixty players from the province who will compete at the Sask First Bantam Tournament in December.

Of the eighty players who were selected from the south, seven players hail from deep in the heart of south east Saskatchewan. The list includes Zane Winter, Adrien Riddell, Clay McKersie, Turner McMillen, Kieran Stewart, Maximus Wanner and Tyson Dales, with five of the seven players selected currently suiting up for the Estevan Bantam AA Bruins

"It speaks to their development as players, I know Kieran Stewart really went out their and played his way on to the team," Bantam AA Bruins Head Coach, Tom Copeland said. "We spoke to the guys last night about how there's lots of kids who've played in that tournament that have gone on to have significant careers in hockey. It's one weekend of evaluation, and if you have a good weekend you make the team and if you have a bad one you don't make it and it's unfortunate but that's the way it is."

Copeland also pointed to a previous case in which one of his players wasn't selected, but is now seeing success a few years down the line.

"I've seen kids get drafted like Cody Levesque for example who played for us a couple years ago, he was drafted by the Calgary Hitmen despite not making the tournament. Its kind of overplayed, it's great to see the kids get the opportunity, but certainly if they're not there we explained to them that you just keep playing hard and you develop yourself as a hockey player and the scouts take care of it, they find you."

The Sask First Bantam tournament will take place December 28-30 at the Co-operators Centre in Regina.