BARRHEAD – It is not how the Barrhead U18 Steelers planned to end their season.
At the Alberta U18 Tier 1 Alberta Hockey Provincial Championships in Calgary March 31-April 3, the Steelers lost three straight games, ending the team's opportunity to make the playoff rounds and contend for a medal.
This year marked Barrhead's sixth consecutive trip to the provincial championship tournament.
In 2018 and 2019, Barrhead took home silver in the 'B' Division. In 2017, the Steelers won the 'B' Division championship, and in 2016, they won the 'A' Division championship. In 2015, Barrhead just missed the medal round.
And although this year’s team did not match those heights, head coach Dylan Stoik said his players should be proud of their season, knowing they proved they could compete against the best teams in the province.
"It was a difficult tournament," Stoik said. "We were going into the tournament as a bit of an underdog. We played hard, but we could not quite pull it out."
He added that the long break between their last Northern Alberta Interlock game and their first game of the championships April 1 against the Southwest Hockey Cougars from Calgary did not do them any favours.
"We got off to a slow start since we really hadn't played a meaningful game in three weeks," Stoik said.
The last time the Steelers officially took the ice was March 12, when they played for the Northern Alberta Interlock U18 Tier 1-2 championship banner. Barrhead earned silver in a narrow 9-8 loss to the La Crete Lumberjacks.
Their second game found the Steelers facing their Lumberjack rivals again, but La Crete had their number, beating them handily 9-2.
"We got off to another bad start," he said. "It started to snowball quickly, getting out of hand."
Later the same day, they lost a tightly contested matchup 5-4 against the North East Zone.
After a scoreless first period, the North East Zone hit the scoreboard first with a power-play goal just past the nine-minute mark.
Barrhead responded about two minutes later when Kayden Rentz, with helpers going to Eric McLean and Jace-Walker Loughran, scored on the power play. The North East Zone would retake the lead less than three minutes later on the power play.
Owen Stoik would tie the game up about 30 seconds later on a goal assisted by Loughran and Axton McCallum. Exactly a minute later, the North East Zone team would retake the lead once again. Then, Barrhead tied the game again on a goal by Rentz, assisted by McLean and Van Werenka with about a minute-and-a-half left in the period.
In the third, Steelers’ captain Kolby Miller gave the Steelers the lead on an unassisted marker about 12 minutes into the period.
Unfortunately for Barrhead, they could not hold on to the lead, with the North East Zone scoring two unanswered goals to finish the period.
"We probably should have won that one, but we took too many penalties ... that's what cost us in the end," Stoik said.
This year's provincial championships, perhaps due to the pandemic, did not have the same pomp and circumstance, with the organizers opting not to hold an opening ceremony and banquet.
However, Stoik said they took the opportunity to have some fun and bond as a team, taking in a Calgary Roughnecks lacrosse game, going bowling and doing a little shopping.
"Although we did not get the result we were hoping for, the boys gave it all they had, and they should be proud of what they accomplished this season," he said.
Stoik added the future of the Steelers looks bright as they should have a strong nucleus of nine or ten players to build on next season.
"The new crop of kids coming in will have some tough skates to fill, but I am confident they will. We (the Barrhead Minor Hockey Association) have a good program, and as a result, the Steelers have always been able to ice very competitive teams."
