Spotlight on our Young Guns
Flin Flon Bombers
A trade at the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League deadline in January, 2017, is paying some nice dividends for the Flin Flon Bombers.
On that day the Bombers sent overage forward D’Ondre Watson to the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s Canmore Eagles in exchange for an untapped 18-year-old centre by the name of Daylan Marchi. The Lethbridge product had appeared in 76 games for the Eagles over parts of three seasons, but during that span he had only managed 18 points.
So far this year, in just 12 games, Marchi has almost matched that output as the 5-foot-10, 175-pounder is in the top 10 in league scoring with seven goals and seven assists.
When Marchi first joined the Bombers he became a depth player that helped Flin Flon reach the league final. His six points in 16 regular-season games, and two more points in the same number of post-season tilts, weren’t overly significant, but they certainly added to an already potent line-up.
As a regular in the line-up last year Marchi enjoyed his best offensive production ever as he registered 14 goals and 16 assists in 50 games and now that he is in his final year of junior hockey it looks like he is ready to take his game to an entirely different level.
That past experience has not only translated to increased success on the ice, but off it as well as Marchi has been selected to be part of the Bombers’ leadership group being named an alternate captain for the current campaign.
From his minor hockey days in Lethbridge to his initial play at the Junior A level, and even his early beginnings in Flin Flon, Marchi has steadily evolved from being a significant role player to one that is a leader on and off the ice. His improved play has been instrumental in the Bombers being the early leaders in goals scored and it is will undoubtedly keep them in both the Sherwood Division and overall point’s races for the remainder of the season.
Yorkton Terriers
It didn’t take Aiden Bulych long to figure out that he could compete at a higher level.
At just 16 years of age, he won’t turn 17 until next month, Bulych was held off the scoresheet in the Yorkton Terriers’ first two games but since then he has been scoring at a two-points-per-game clip as the 6-foot-0, 185-pound winger has 14 points in his last seven outings. Coincidentally, the Terriers have gone 4-2-1-0 in that span to move within striking distance of the Weyburn Red Wings for first place in the Viterra Division standings.
The homegrown Yorkton product got a taste of Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League action last year when he appeared in seven games with the Terriers and during that audition he was impressive with two goals and an assist.
Bulych spent the rest of last year with the Midget AAA Yorkton Maulers and in 42 games tallied 13 goals in addition to setting up 21 others. That was a marked improvement from his rookie year with the Maulers in 2016-17 when he notched 10-12-22 totals in 43 games.
Bulych certainly knows what it takes to be successful as prior to moving up to the Midget AAA level he was part of back-to-back Saskatchewan Bantam AA Hockey League championship teams from Yorkton. In two seasons with the Bantam AA Terriers, Bulych scored 36 goals and added 53 assists and as a result was selected by the Prince Albert Raiders in ninth round of the 2016 Western Hockey League bantam draft.
The Terriers are coming off a disappointing 2017-18 campaign that saw them score the second fewest goals in the league, but with the addition of players like Bulych that will certainly change this year.
Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League Official Sponsors
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please contact Logan Fraser @ 306-596-1689 or email logan.fraser@sjhl.ca.
