In many cases finishing fifth out of eight might be cause for disappointment.
For Westlock’s Bantam ‘B’ Warriors, however, finishing out of the playoffs at the Alberta Provincial Bantam ‘B’ Hockey Championship last weekend wasn’t anything to hand their heads about.
“I actually am pleasantly surprised with the result of the weekend for us,” coach Barry Brost said. “I told the parents at our first meeting that we would finish between fifth and seventh out of eight teams.”
It’s not that he has a low opinion of his players, in fact quite the opposite. It’s just that coming into the tournament he knew how high the calibre of play there would be, and the Warriors rose to the occasion.
“Sure we lost two and won one, but getting to provincials is one thing,” he said. “If you can get to provincials and win a game, that’s another level.”
The team went 1-2 in the round robin, starting with a 4-0 loss to the Olds Grizzlys on Thursday evening.
The Warriors then came out strong for the Friday-night crowd with a 6-3 victory over Fairview Bruins.
A 6-1 loss to the Vegreville Wranglers on Saturday afternoon was what finally knocked the Warriors out of playoff contention — but even if that was the end of the weekend tournament for the boys, they were fairly positive about it.
“Our kids told me coming out of the dressing room last night at game’s end that this was a great experience for them,” Brost said. “There were no tears.”
Nor should there be, considering the two teams that handed defeat to the Warriors were the two teams to vie for the gold medal on Sunday afternoon. Vegreville went on to claim the championship banner by a 4-2 margin.
Having the experience of playing in a highly competitive provincial tournament was in fact kind of its own reward, with some of the players who have big-league dreams getting a taste of what it’s like to play against some of the best.
“They played kids this weekend that will be at that level. There are kids who will play ‘AAA’ in the future,” Brost said. “Now they can measure themselves and use that as a push to see what dreams they can come up with.”
In the immediate future, though, the Warriors have set their sights on the league banner, which they will contend for this weekend. A first game will be scheduled in Westlock for Friday night and the third-game tiebreaker, if needed, scheduled for Sunday.
As for the outlook, Brost was very optimistic.
“Every game in the last six or seven has continually gotten better,” he said. “If we can continue this in finals we’re going to do really well.”
Although the Warriors were eliminated before the playoff round, everything went smoothly.
“The parents really pulled it together, because with the league we’re in teams are still playing (regular season) games everywhere else,” said Westlock Minor Hockey Association president Denise Boulerice. “The manpower that went in really came from the team that was here.”
She credits the effort of dozens of volunteers who put in upwards of 1,000 hours total — including 12-14 people on hand for all four days of the tournament — for being able to pull off an event of this magnitude.
While the games kicked off on Thursday evening, the official opening ceremonies took place Friday after supper — with several local dignitaries bringing well wishes.
Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock MLA Maureen Kubinec said seeing the crowd at the Spirit Centre reminded her of the many days she spent in arenas as a kid and as a parent.
“Many of us parents and grandparents can remember long hour at the rink growing up,” she said.
“I can’t think of a better way to spend a weekend than enjoying this national tradition.”
Westlock County reeve Bud Massey noted that this kind of competition is great for everyone participating.
“No matter what the score is in the games you play, you’re already winners or you wouldn’t be here,” he said.
Westlock Coun. Clem Fagnan brought greetings from the town, noting the ancillary benefits for hosting a tournament of this size and calibre.
“It’s good for the community and it’s especially good for this new building,” he said.
Chuck Keller, MC during the opening ceremonies began by congratulating everybody present on being part of the tournament — the first one hosted in the new Westlock Rotary Spirit Centre.
“Nice barn!,” came a reply from the crowd.
For Boulerice, being able to host a tournament in the Spirit Centre was a great pleasure, and she added she heard lots of positive feedback about the facility.
“For the size of our community, with the fieldhouse and how they’ve incorporated the curling rink, everyone was very impressed,” she said.
It was easier to host the tournament there than it was two years ago for the atom provincials in the old Jubilee Arena, as things then couldn’t be as centralized.
But while showing off the facility and the team to out-of-towners was nice, Boulerice said it was especially good to be able to showcase the team’s talents to people within the community.
“It’s nice for the boys to showcase to the town as well. You can come watch them every weekend, but when you hear provincials are coming you put in more of an effort, I think,” she said.
She added there were a lot of younger players who got to take advantage of seeing this kind of tournament hosted in their barn, giving them something to look forward to.
“It’s nice for some of our younger to be out here watching, to see what is a provincial game and why it’s different than a league game,” she said. “It’s all about the atmosphere; it’s still a game of hockey, but it’s about the weekend and the experience.”
