Stettler’s CSI midget Storm was the only winner among the three local finalists in last weekend’s minor hockey tournament, which went ahead despite the bad weather with all teams remaining true to their commitment to show up.
There were three pools of four teams with Stettler’s midget AA taking on Innisfail, Leduc and Loydminster in the first, Stettler midget A team in the same group with Oyen, Grande Prairie and Airdrie and CSI midget B in the pool of Olds, Okotoks and Lethbridge.
“We had a successful weekend going 4-0 and winning the B side of the home tournament,” said Steven Leacock, head coach of midget B team.
They beat Olds 6-4, overpowered Okotoks 5-1, thrashed Lethbridge 6-2 before winning 2-1 against Olds 2-1 in the final game.
“We got into penalty trouble in the previous game with Lethbridge, so we were short of players for the final game, but the players that could play dug deep and played a good game,” Leacock said.
Goals from Lucas Smith and Parker Cassidy, as well as a strong defensive game kept Olds to only four shots in the first period. The boys kept up their game until the last minute to lift the well deserved trophy at the end of the game.
As for midget AA team, they kicked off the tournament with a strong showing, on Friday night as they prevailed over Innisfail 5 – 4.
The next day, losing 5-3 to Lloydminster 5- 3, they played Sunday morning’s game with a huge determination.
“They put forth a mammoth effort triumphing over Leduc 6 – 3,” said coach Scott Schell.
Thanks to this victory, midget AA Storm captured a spot in the final versus Innisfail.
The fatigue was visible on the side of the local team.
“Stettler had no answer for Innisfail and fell 8 – 1 in the end,” said Schell.
“While the final result may not have been what the team was looking for, the tournament had many positive aspects coming out of it,” Midget A Storm had quite a number of exciting games from the beginning to the end.
In their opening game Friday night, with 2:31 left in the first, the local boys were down 3-1.
“The kids never gave up and managed to tie the game at 3 apiece with 15 seconds left in the game to come away with a point to start the tournament,” said coach Kevin Turner.
In their second game, the tit-for-tat scoring went on throughout the first and second periods with Airdrie coming out on top having scored the winner just two minutes from regulation.
The third game was another nailbiter with the local boys scoring just one minute from time to win against Grande Prairie.
In the final, the midget A team played against Oyen and lost 7-3.
“Our point getters were Nick Yaschuk, Braden Bowie, McKenzie Rost, Kelton Turner, Brandon Sharpe Logan Duncan and Elliott Mabbott, “ said Turner.