Usually winning a provincial championship means the end of the season, but not for the Barrhead Bantam Pirates.
On Thursday, March 12, the Pirates travelled to Devon to compete in the Alberta Provincial Bantam B Championships, taking a break from their regular 1660 league Bantam playoffs.
However, before the tournament, on Monday, March 9, the Pirates played the first game in the best of three game playoff series against a team from Leduc. In the first game at the Barrhead Agrena, the Pirates beat the Leduc team 6 to 4. The next night the team played Leduc, once again, but they lost on the road by the identical score, 6 to 4.
However, the Pirates had to take a break before playing the final game of the series. Pirates Head Coach David Schmidt said the fact the team is still playing is a testament to how good of a season the team is having.
“It was a lot of hockey in a short period of time and I think in the middle of it the boys started to get a bit tired, but they were able to play through it and play some very good hockey,” Schmidt said. “I am really proud of the boys and how they were able to find the energy to keep going.”
On Thursday, March 12 the Pirates played their first game of the provincial tournament against Vegreville.
“We played Vegreville a number of times in the last month so we knew going into the game we would have our hands full,” he said, adding Vegreville didn’t disappoint.
In what Schmidt described as a hard fought game, Barrhead and Vegreville played to a 2 to 2 draw.
At the provincial championship tournament level in minor hockey ties are allowed during round robin play. If there is a tie in the standings during round robin play, the nod goes to the team that have scored the most goals.
In their second round robin game the next day, the Pirates faced a team from Camrose.
Schmidt said although the Camrose team put in a good effort, they were no match for the Pirates and the team won convincingly.
“I can’t even remember the score,” he said. “The boys had a really good game and I think we won by a score of 8 to 1.”
Barrhead wrapped up the round robin by playing the host and fellow 1660 league team in Devon.
“I think we have played them three times and they have beaten us twice, so we knew we would be in for a tough game,” Schmidt said, adding that going into the game the team knew they would be going home if they lost the game.
In the end, the Pirates narrowly defeated Devon by a score of 4 to 3.
“It was a really great, hard fought game,” he said, adding that at this point fatigue was starting to become a factor for the team.
“The Devon game was our fifth game in six days and I think if it hadn’t been for the Barrhead fans that travelled to take in the tournament we would not have been able to have the energy to keep going.”
Schmidt said anywhere between 100 and 200 Barrhead fans travelled to Devon to cheer on the Pirates.
“Even though we were playing the host team in their own building, about 80 per cent of the fans were cheering for us and that helped give us the added extra bit of energy we needed.”
After the round robin the team would need that extra energy from the fans because the next morning (Sunday, March 15) the Pirates defeated a team from Sexsmith by a scored of 7 to 2 to advance to the championship game against Vegreville.
Once again, Schmidt said, Vegreville proved to be a strong opponent.
“We scored the winning goal with about five minutes left in the game to squeak out the win 3 to 2,” he said, adding how important it was to have the support of all the Barrhead fans. “I can’t thank them enough. Without them being there to cheer us on, I don’t think we would have found the energy we needed to put us over the top.”
Unfortunately, Schmidt said, the deciding league playoff game against Leduc at home on March 13, was not the team’s best effort. The Pirates lost 4 to 1 at the Barrhead Agrena.
“It wasn’t a very good game. The boys tanks were empty,” he said. “We’ve played eight games in nine days, so you could see they were pretty tuckered and we just didn’t have the wind.”
However, the loss is not the end of the team’s season. The Pirates will play the loser of the Vegreville – Drayton Valley series.
“It doesn’t matter Drayton or Vegreville,” Schmidt said. “We’ve played both of them a lot so we know their secrets and they know all of ours, and the team who works the hardest is going to win.”
-with files from Meagan Pecjak
