By Ryan Laverty /
In the world of sports, chaos often reigns supreme.
The predator ends up the prey and everything you thought would happen doesn’t.
That’s a big piece of what draws people to sport in the first place, but there is something to be said for a bit of order as well.
The top two teams all year should, by all accounts, earn a spot in a championship game.
And that’s exactly what the Edmonton Minor Hockey Association’s Peewee Clagget division got in 2010 when the Northwest Zone Raiders beat the St. Albert Sabres for the city championship Mar. 21.
After battling all season long for the top spot in the region’s AA ranks, Raiders coach Wayne Troock said it only made sense that it was his team and the Sabres still standing at the end.
“We beat the Sabres in the round robin, but really we were cheering for them to come around and make it to the finals against us because they really deserved it,” Troock said. “It was us and them finishing one-two in the third leg, so that’s how it should have been.”
Of course, there may have been a bit of selfishness in the Raiders wish for the Sabres.
Throughout the season Troock’s team had found success against Gary Peck’s team, but hadn’t managed to muster a win against St. Albert’s other squad, the Saints.
“For whatever reason, we couldn’t beat the Saints, but they couldn’t beat the Sabres and we had no problem with the Sabres,” admitted Troock, whose squad also won Minor Hockey Week this year. “That’s the way hockey is sometimes. It can be a lot mental.”
After rolling to a 6-2 win in the first game of the championship, the mental part of the game likely crept into the minds of both teams.
With first-year peewee Tyson Jost — who scored a 127 goals in 72 games this season — leading the way, the Raiders finished off the Sabres in the second game 3-1.
Despite winning the race to four points in quick fashion, Troock said the victory was anything but easy and blamed the intensity of the battle in the city finals for his team’s lacking results at the provincial championship.
The Lloydminster Blazers beat the Saints to win gold, while both the Raiders and Sabres mustered only two wins each.
“I think both teams were beaten up after that final and I think it’s why we both did crappy at provincials,” said Troock. “But for us, that’s okay. Minor Hockey Week and Cities are what mattered to us, and we won both.
“I’ve been doing this (coaching) for 14 years and I can tell you, I’ve never had a better team than what this one was this year.” |
