At the end of April, 160 of the top Bantam players in Alberta will descend on beautiful Canmore for the Alberta Cup, a four-day tournament well attending by scouts. (Courtesy of Hockey Alberta)

For many of Alberta’s top Bantam players, their seasons will carry on into the spring as Hockey Alberta released the 21 players on each of the eight regional teams participating in April’s Alberta Cup.

The eight teams are Calgary North, Calgary South, Central, Edmonton Blue, Edmonton Yellow, Northeast, Northwest and South and will play in Canmore April 26-30, along with an education seminar from the WHL and fitness testing.

Zone camps held March 24-26 gave coaches a chance to evaluate players – more than 700 of them. Coaches will continue evaluations here as they look to whittle down the groups of players for a summer camp they will hold which will eventually determine Team Alberta for the WHL Challenge Cup held in October.

A number of top prospects will be playing in the tournament, which also happens to be the final chance to view these players in action.

The top ranked prospect across many sites, Northeast’s Kaiden Guhle, who spent the year with OHA Edmonton, will be a player to watch. His teammate Connor McClennon is hot on his heels on many draft boards and recorded an astonishing 99 points in 30 games with POE. Kyle Crnkovic and Jake Neighbours will represent Team South and could be top 10 picks in the draft. Ozzy Wiesblatt should also be a first rounder and is on Calgary South. The draft’s top ranked tender, Sebastian Cossa, is backstopping the Northeast.

Last year, Calgary South was victorious, recording three wins and a tie through round robin before defeating Northeast 9-3 in the final.

Full rosters can be found here: http://www.abcup.ca/teams/