Youth hockey: Utah team to play in international tourney in Canada

QUEBEC CITY, Quebec — A Salt Lake City-based team will compete with 20 other nations in the Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament this weekend.

Northwest Regulators has put together an elite team made up of players from six states to play in what Utah team coach Steve Metcalf called Little League World Series of hockey.

Utahns hand-picked from Metcalf's pee-wee (ages 12 and under) team and from the Salt Lake County Lightning include Alex Truscott, Keb Heasley, Anea Ferrario, Cody Grant, Lindros Beard (who was named after former NHL great Eric Lindros) and Kyra Yu — the lone girl on the squad.

While this is the first time a Utah team has competed in the tournament, Metcalf says he expects the team to be competitive against clubs from England, Austria, Canada, Germany, Slovenia and Switzerland — some of which are sponsored and funded by NHL clubs.

The team leaves Saturday and will face the Carolina Jr. Hurricanes on Sunday at 5:40 p.m. MT in the Pepsi Coliseum.

e-mail: amorton@desnews.com