Silver success for Alberta in NAHC

For the second straight year an Alberta team managed to win some hardware at the National Aboriginal Hockey Championships.

But this time around it was the Alberta boys squad that captured the silver medal at the tournament, which was held May 7-12 in Saskatoon.

In the boys’ gold-medal contest this year Saskatchewan defeated Alberta 5-1. Saskatchewan has now won five consecutive national boys’ titles.

As for the Alberta girls’ side, it just missed out on a medal this time around. It was edged 4-3 by Ontario in its bronze-medal matchup.

A squad comprised of Quebec-based players called Eastern Door and the North beat Saskatchewan 3-2 in the girls’ gold-medal game.

The Alberta girls club had won the bronze medal at the 2011 NAHC, which was also held in Saskatoon.

Entering the boys championship final both the Alberta and Saskatchewan teams were sporting unblemished 5-0 records.

“Unfortunately somebody had to lose,” said Greg Desjarlais, manager of the Alberta boys team. “And unfortunately it was us.”

The Alberta boys team had placed sixth in each of the two previous NAHC.

While the squad’s silver-medal finish was a surprise for many, Desjarlais said it wasn’t all that shocking to him.

“I knew that with the talent pool we had and with the guys that we had brought with us that we would contend and be in the top three,” he said.

In round-robin action the Alberta boys registered victories over Ontario (9-5), Northwest Territories (5-4) and EDN (5-2). The club downed Team Atlantic 9-5 in the quarter-final game and then earned a berth in the championship final with an 8-7 triumph over EDN in the semi-final match.

But Alberta did not play a disciplined game in the final. It was assessed 13 penalties while the Saskatchewan side only had four.

Besides their silver medal, four members of the Alberta side also picked up medallions for being named to the tournament’s all-star squad.

Suede Omeasoo, a centre who was also the Alberta captain, and defenceman Isiah Cardinal were named to the first-all team. Right winger Dion Bigplume and blueliner Brandon Paul were chosen to the tournament’s second all-star team.

Meanwhile, members of the Alberta girls team were obviously disappointed at not winning a medal. Even more so considering they beat the eventual gold medal champion EDN 7-2 in round-robin play.

The EDN team avenged that loss with a 5-2 semi-final victory. Alberta had to play that game without centre Elisha Cunningham. She flew back to Alberta two days before the semi-final game in order to attend the Alberta girls under-18 camp.

“That hurt us going into the semis,” said Alberta coach Leiha Crier. “She’s an amazing, speedy centre with great energy and leadership on and off the ice.”

Alberta also played the entire tournament without Jess Reid, a defence player who was supposed to captain the team. She broke a finger prior to the nationals and did not take part.
Crier, who has coached the Alberta team for eight years, was satisfied though with the efforts of her youthful side.
 “I was extremely proud of my girls considering I had the youngest group I’ve ever taken to nationals and I believe the youngest team of the tournament,” she said.
This year’s NAHC featured 16 squads, eight female and eight male.