The Barrhead Steelers have done it.
After four days of hard-fought hockey in Edson, the boys have been named the 2014 Alberta Midget B Provincial champions.
Proud coach Jason Murrell said the boys perfomed very well over the course of the tournament.
“Our boys had an incredible weekend of hockey. The played their best games of the year, he said. “Five, very intense games in three days, is a lot of hockey.”
The Steelers began the tournament with an impressive performance against the Hughenden Jets. A goal from Eric Schmidt just seconds into the game had Barrhead all fired up, as did a second minutes later from Brett Bujold.
Barrhead played with strength throughout the game, and ended with a win of 5-1. Other goals came from Nick Perdaems, Derek Qurz, Bradley Bujold and Jordan Smith.
The boys hit the ice to face the Vulcan Hawks for game two of the tournament. Again, Barrhead landed the first goal of the game. And the second.
Two goals in the first, three in the second, and three in the third from Barrhead had the Steelers looking great.
In the end, Barrhead took their second win with a score of 8-3.
“Going into the semi final game, we as coaches asked our team to play the best defensive game they could and wait for our offensive chances. We beat a very strong Vermillion team 3-0,” said Murrell. “One of our best team games of the year.”
Up until this point, the boys seemed to have no problem besting their opponents. Then the Steelers faced off against the Innisfail Flyers, the very team the Barrhead boys lost the North-South championship to this month.
Barrhead took to the ice hard, rivalry hanging thick in the air. The game went scoreless until seven minutes left in the first, when Barrhead’s Brett Bujold had the game’s first successful goal.
Heading into the second, it didn’t take long for the Flyers to retaliate. Less than a minute into the period, Innisfail landed a goal of their own to tie up the game.
The second period continued with the scoreboard showing 1-1, neither team able to break the scoring standstill.
Both teams returned to the ice for the final period, tensions high. With only minutes remaining, overtime looked like a good possibility. That was, until Innisfail seized an opportunity and scored to break the tie.
Barrhead was unable to tie the game up again in the remaining minutes of the game, and the Steelers accepted their first loss of the tournament.
Despite their loss, the Steelers still earned a spot in the gold medal game. Who would they face? The Innisfail Flyers once again.
This was Steelers’ final chance to redeem themselves against the Flyers, who continued to get the best of the Barrhead boys.
The stakes were high on Sunday afternoon when the gold medal game began.
Like many of their games, the Steelers started strong. Nicholas Murrell got a goal for Barrhead two minutes into the first to put the boys up 1-0.
Nearing the end of period one, the Flyers fought back and tied the game 1-1 at the four-minute mark.
Period two was a hot one for Barrhead. With less than 10 minutes to go, Brett Bujold scored goal number two for the Steelers to take the lead again.
The Barrhead boys worked to widen the gap, and Eric Schmidt did just that with only a minute remaining.
Taking to the ice for the second period, the Steelers were defending a score of 3-1. Would they be able to keep the lead?
Nick Perdaems stretched Barrhead’s lead once more with a goal at 12 minutes left. Although Innisfail managed to score moments later, the smell of victory was in the air.
With neither team scoring for the rest of the game, Barrhead fans erupted with cheers as the Steelers were named champions of 2014 Midget B Provincials.
“Innisfail was our nemisis in the later part of the year, and it makes it that much sweeter to be able to beat them in the gold medal game,” said Murrell. “It was incredible how much character our team showed to be able to pull it all together, to play, and win as a team. We ask our boys to play with class, and it makes us as coaches very proud, when you have other teams from the tournament cheering for you to win.
“This is basically the Stanley Cup for our kids,” added Murrell.
