One more win.
That’s all the Barrhead Steelers needed to become the Midget A Provincial Champions. The Provincial Midget Hockey Championship Tournament took place from March 24 to 27 in Stettler.
Unfortunately for the Steelers, that win didn’t happen. Barrhead went 5 and 1 for the tournament, with their only loss, 6 to 3, coming in the championship game against the hometown Stettler Legion Storm.
However, Steelers head coach, Trevor Whiting, said for the most part the team played well against the Storm, except for a portion of the second period.
“I don’t want to take away anything from Stettler. They are a great team and are fully deserving of their victory, but I think at the end the boys were getting tired and we made a couple of costly mistakes in the second period, but that’s hockey,” Whiting said, adding except for the final result, it was the perfect weekend.
“Stettler did an amazing job hosting the tournament. It was first class all the way,” he said. “And I can’t be more proud of the boys. We won five out of six games in four days and they really were great ambassadors for our community.”
Whiting said the Steelers were the least penalized team in the tournament and were continuously receiving compliments from opposition coaches, game officials and the fans about their hard work and sportsman like play.
Whitting also wanted to thank all the parents, fans and volunteers who have helped the team throughout the season, many of which made the three-hour drive to cheer on the team all throughout the tournament.
And when asked about next season, Whiting said this season would be hard to top.
“It was a special season for sure and this group is a special group of young men,” he said, adding even though 11 Steelers wouldn’t be returning next season he is optimistic the team will be more than competitive next year. “About half our team will be returning and we know we will be getting some very good players from our Bantam teams, so you never know what is going to happen.”
The Steelers started the tournament, on Thursday, March 28, on a strong note defeating the Edmonton Seera Icemen 3 to 0.
Brad Bujold opened the scoring for the Steelers on an unassisted goal with just a little less than five minutes remaining first in the period.
After playing a scoreless second period, the Steelers added two more insurance goals. The first by Danny Dekker, with assists going to Josh Starman and Brad Bujold, at about the halfway mark of the period. Koby Adams scored the Steelers final goal of the game with an assist from Danny Dekker.
Zach Munroe stopped all 36 shots he faced for the victory.
Once again the Steelers played a strong game coming out on the winning side of a close 3 to 2 game.
In the first period the Steelers traded goals with the Storm finishing the period tied 1 to 1. The Steelers’ goal came thanks to Brady DeRudder, assisted by Josh Starman at about the 13-minute mark.
In the second period, neither team were able to capitalize on any of their scoring chances and the score remained tied. At about the halfway mark of the final frame, Barrhead’s Danny Dekker put the Steelers up by a goal with assists awarded to Aeden Card and Brad Bujold. Stettler tied the game with just a little over two minutes to go, but just as it seemed the game was destined for overtime, Koby Adams scored the winner, with an assist by Keegan Wolkowski, for the Steelers with just two seconds on the clock. Logan Branden stopped 35 out of 37 shots for the victory.
In the third game, Barrhead continued their winning streak by defeating the Peace River Stampeders by a score of 4 to 1 on Saturday morning.
Scoring for the Steelers were Koby Adams (2), Brad Bujold and Tanner Whiting. Zach Monroe earned the victory.
In their fourth and final round robin game later that day, the Steelers yet again continued their dominance winning in convincing fashion, shutting out the Strathmore Storm 8 to 0.
Scoring for Barrhead in the first period was Danny Dekker and Mitchel Carstairs. However, it was in the second period when the Steelers took control of the game. Nicholas Botros, Brady DeRudder, Tyler Nickolson, Lukas Weeks and Zak Laun all scored for Barrhead.
In the third period, DeRudder wrapped up the Steelers’ offence scoring his second goal of the game.
Zach Munroe stopped all 18 shots for the shutout.
In the semi-final matchup Barrhead faced Sherwood Park and quickly asserted their dominance.
The first period saw Barrhead score four unanswered goals by Koby Adams, Tanner Whiting (2) and Mitchel Carstairs. In the second period, Sherwood Park solved the riddle of starting goaltender, Zach Munroe, scoring their only two goals of the game. Responding for Barrhead was Whiting who completed his hat trick. In the third period Tyler Nicholson wrapped up the Steelers’ scoring. The final score was 6 to 2 for Barrhead.
Unfortunately their support wasn’t quite enough to put them over the hump. In the final game the Steelers lost 6 to 3.
