The Barrhead Bantam Pirates finished their season on top of the world, claiming gold in the 1660 league championship against the Vegreville Wranglers.
Not only did the Pirates win in their final series against Vegreville, the boys went undefeated throughout their entire season.
This marks the second year in a row the team was able to win every game they played.
The Pirates kicked off the gold medal series against Vegreville in Barrhead last Thursday, where Barrhead claimed a victory of 9-5.
Coach Trevor Whiting said the game started off very strong and, although the final period was a little rocky, Barrhead was able to fend off their opponents for the win.
“In our third period we kind of fell asleep for a little while, but we battled back,” he said.
In the first period, goals came twice from Mitchen Carstairs, and once from Tanner Whiting. Period two saw goals from Bradey DeRudder, Dylan Callihoo, Whiting, and Nick Botros.
The final period Barrhead had goals from Callihoo and Brayden Bujold.
The Pirates headed to Vegreville on Saturday for game two of the series. The boys stayed wide awake for this one.
“Saturday they played an entire game. Sixty minutes of hockey,” said Whiting. “It was awesome.”
The final score was 4-1, a win that named the boys champions of the 1660 league.
The first period the Pirates outshot the Wranglers 16-4, however the score remained at 1-0 with the only goal coming from Callihoo. Vegreville’s goaltending was exceptional, said Whiting.
Though the second period had the teams tied at 11-11 for shots on net, the Pirates were able to kick the score up to 3-0 with goals from Carstairs and Whiting.
The Pirates upped their game in the third period, outshooting Vegreville 11-6. Callihoo scored another one for Barrhead to bring the score to 4-0.
It looked like the Pirates would land themselves a shutout gold medal game, however with a mere 36 seconds remaining, the Wranglers managed to slip the puck into Barrhead’s net.
Though they didn’t get their shutout, the Pirates still left the ice as champions. Whiting couldn’t be more proud of the team’s performance this year.
“It was another hard working effort for the boys for the entire season,” he said. It was an excellent year with a great group of kids.”
Not only were the boys a pleasure to coach, Whiting said the team had support from a dedicated group of parents and grandparents this year. Not to mention a great coaching staff.
As for team growth, Whiting said he saw the Pirates grow as a group particularly after the boys played a tournament in Grande Prairie in February. That first weekend last month really brought the boys together.
From there, it was a season of success.
“After that, we played steady, complete hockey for the rest of the season,” said Whiting. “They worked together so well.”
