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High-school stars Tristan Aherne, Devin Zhang to proudly represent city at annual fundraising event: 'It's going to be a wonderful experience'
Published Jun 19, 2025 • 5 minute read
Calgary high school football players at centre Tristan Aherne, left and Devin Zhang pose for a group photo with their coaches and Calgary Al Azhar Shriners outside Spolumbo's Deli & Fine Foods on Wednesday May 28, 2025. For the 12th year, the Calgary Al Azhar Shriners are funding two Calgarians to make the trip south of the border to play in the annual Montana East-West Shrine Game. Aherne plays offensive tackle/guard for Henry Wise Wood High School and Zhang is a running back/receiver for Notre Dame High School.
Calgary high school football players at centre Tristan Aherne, left and Devin Zhang pose for a group photo with their coaches and Calgary Al Azhar Shriners outside Spolumbo's Deli & Fine Foods on Wednesday May 28, 2025. For the 12th year, the Calgary Al Azhar Shriners are funding two Calgarians to make the trip south of the border to play in the annual Montana East-West Shrine Game. Aherne plays offensive tackle/guard for Henry Wise Wood High School and Zhang is a running back/receiver for Notre Dame High School. Gavin Young/Postmedia
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Tristan Aherne plans to open holes Saturday.
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And Devin Zhang intends to run through them in Great Falls, Montana.
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But one Calgarian won’t be doing it for the other because the two young football talents actually line up on different sides of the 2025 Montana East-West Shrine Game.
It’s Aherne with the East facing Zhang and the West in the annual star-studded showcase of high-school seniors featuring the two Calgarians among the best of Montana athletes.
“I expect some pretty good football,” said Zhang, a running back/receiver with the Notre Dame Pride of Saturday’s all-star game at Memorial Stadium in Great Falls (7 p..m.).
“I’ve been to Montana a couple times and those guys? They’re big, they’re fast and they can play football really well. And I’m just excited as a Canadian to go down and to show them how Canadians could play football because we could play just as well as they can.”
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Aherne accepts the challenge, as well, as a strong offensive lineman — at guard or tackle — representing Henry Wise Wood Warriors.
“It’s a different breed of football down there,” Aherne declared. “So I’m excited to go down and test out my chops and see if I can make a statement. I want to try to show them that Canadian football is serious football and it’s not a joke and that we can there at the same level as them.
“I’m excited to go down, have some fun, make new friends and make new relationships, but I want to compete. It’s going to be tough, but I’m ready for it.”
WHAT’S THE SHRINE GAME ALL ABOUT?
The Montana East-West Shrine Game is one of the oldest high school all-star football games in the United States.
Every year since 1947, the finest players of Montana high schools are selected to compete in a game to raise money and to help make the public aware of the expert orthopedic and burn care available at the Shriners Children’s hospital in Spokane, Wash.
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A pair of Calgary footballers annually get the invite to join in the event, with the backing of the Greater Calgary Amateur Football Association and the local Shriners chapter from the Al Azhar Shriners of Southern Alberta.
The two-day festivities surrounding the game also feature a mini-cheer camp, a banquet, a parade through downtown Great Falls and a visit by the athletes with kids having made the trip from the hospital in Spokane.
“It’s going to be a wonderful experience to socialize and getting to meet the kids from the hospital,” Aherne said.
“The Shriners, they do so much, right? They have hospitals all over the continent, all over the world, and they do a lot. A charity organization, an NGO … what they do for children is a miracle work.”
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This year, Aherne and Zhang each received a grant of $2,000 for the trip from the Greater Calgary Amateur Football Association — an offering made to the boys by GCAFA president and former Calgary Stampeders defensive back star Greg Peterson last month at popular Calgary eatery Spolumbo’s Fine Food & Italian Deli.
WHO’S INVOLVED IN CALGARY?
It’s not just Peterson with his football association and the Al Azhar Shriners involved in the annual event.
With his football and business contacts, Spolumbo’s owner Tony Spoletini, a former star with the Calgary Dinos and one-time Stampeders backfield sparkplug, has been a leader for decades behind the movement, which has often seen Calgary players propel onwards from a shrine game appearance to further reaches in the sport.
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“The relationship with Greg Peterson and Tony Spoletini and the shrine here in the city has been a three-way street,” said Ernie Hilland, an Al Azhar past potentate and coordinator for Calgary’s involvement in the shrine bowl for the better part of a decade.
“We work during the year and get the boys all ready,” Hilland continued. “And we’ve had some fantastic results out of the boys that we’ve had over the years. I think we’re short one fellow that hasn’t had a complete four-year football scholarship at a Canadian university.”
Last year’s shrine game participants from Calgary, receiver Ben Falcowsky of the Ernest Manning Griffins and defensive lineman Deacon Sterna of the E.P. Scarlett/Central Memorial Rams, are now with the Queen’s Golden Gaels and UBC Thunderbirds, respectively.
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Others invited to past editions include receiver Matteo Civitarese of Notre Dame and receiver Willem Arseneau of Ernest Manning — having caught on with the Dinos and Guelph Gryphons, respectively — 2025 CFL draftee Sam Carson of Henry Wise Wood and Stampeders receiver-turned-assistant coach Colton Hunchak of Notre Dame.
“You know, I was going over the list, especially guys from my school and all over Calgary, and it’s tremendous,” Zhang said. “Just being able to be a part of that list, it’s an honour and it’s nice. I’m excited and I’m honoured to go down and show that, showcase what Canadians can do. And also to play for a cause, to play for something bigger than us.”
Zhang himself is a recruit of the Dinos these days.
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“We’ve had some in the CFL and we’ve actually had one that went to the NFL,” Hilland added. “Pretty well all the boys during their time with the shrine game have had at least six universities chasing them when they’re in their final year of high school. So that’s something to say in itself.
“What a feat to have that accomplishment.”
OFF TO THE SHRINE GAME
Aherne and Zhang are the only two Canadians making the trek to Montana’s shrine game.
“It’s a true blessing to play such a prestigious game that goes beyond just the field,” Zhang said. “We’re raising money and awareness, not just for the hospital but for the kids, as well. And I think that’s what football is about.
“It’s more than just what we do on the field, it’s how we carry ourselves off the field, and I think this is an amazing opportunity to show like the people what we are and what we’re capable of.”
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And have some fun along the way.
“Calgary’s a hotbed for football,” Aherne added. “And to be selected as one of the two athletes that can represent my city, province and country, it’s an honour.
“I’m just happy I can be down here right support this wonderful game and this wonderful organization.
“It means giving back, right? There’s a wonderful support network that’s given me the ability to be where I’ve where I stand today as a football player, and so it’s a wonderful feeling to be able to give back to that community that’s given so much to me.”
tsaelhof@postmedia.com
http://www.x.com/ToddSaelhofPM
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