By Ryan Laverty /
To make it into a Disney film, they would have needed a couple more wins, but for a team that had won only once all season in the Peewee Clagget Division, the KC Columbians’ foray into Edmonton Minor Hockey Week can only be termed a success.
The last-place team in the division with only one win in 14 regular-season games, the Columbians dropped their opener 5-2 to their club counterparts, the KC Lancers, putting them on the losing side of the tournament bracket – the place most people would have expected.
But what those people didn’t expect was to see coach Adam Manah’s crew enter their elimination game with the Sherwood Park AA Steel Kings with a healthy dose of confidence.
“What most people don’t realize is that we played most of the second round (of the season) without a full team because of injuries, guys getting sick or being on vacation, so we really hadn’t shown what we were truly capable of,” explained Manah. “We won the Hawks tournament over Christmas, and even though it turned out we played some Peewee 2 teams, it helped give us confidence and I think we carried that into Minor Hockey Week.”
Knocking off the Steel Kings on Jan. 19 certainly added a bit of kindling to the growing fire, but it was the Columbians’ 3-1 win over the St. Albert AA Sabres that took their confidence to an all new level.
The Sabres had been almost untouchable heading into Minor Hockey Week, having won the Ice Breaker tournament to start the year and then rattling off a 12-1-1 record in the first two rounds of the regular season.
“We told the boys before the tournament started that the only things that matter start now,” said Manah. “No one is going to remember what you did in the first two rounds of the year, they’re going to remember Minor Hockey Week and they’re going to remember playoffs.
“When we hit the ice against St. Albert our guys just really believed they could do it. We knew we could do it, we just hadn’t shown it all year,” Manah continued. “I think we definitely surprised a lot of teams winning that game ‚Äî especially St. Albert.”
Unfortunately the Whitemud West Raiders took notice of the Columbians’ unexpected two-game winning streak and promptly put an end to it with three shots on three goals in the Minor Hockey Week semifinal and ultimately an 8-1 win.
Manah admitted his players were crushed emotionally following the one-sided whalloping, but said it would only serve as a minor setback.
“Obviously our guys were shattered, but now we have really proven to ourselves that we can play with anyone in this league,” said Manah, who couldn’t put his finger on the reason for his team’s letdown against the Raiders. “We have the whole second half of the year now and I guarantee we’re going to come out of Minor Hockey Week with a whole lot more confidence than we came in with.
“We’re just going to take things in stride now and see what happens.” |
