Burnstick's Redskins repeat at All-Native tourney

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Don Burnstick is doing a little woodworking after his latest achievement at the 41st All-Native Hockey Tournament held in North Battleford March 25 to 27. Burnstick is head coach of the Redskins, who won the championship for the second time in two years.

"I'm building a trophy case," said Burnstick. "We've won twice now at the most prestigious tournament in Canada."

Burnstick better make that case big enough to hold at least three trophies. In addition to the championship, this year Burnstick won the coach of the tournament award.

It was an easy choice to make, with Burnstick leading his team in a tough uphill battle through the entire three days.

The Redskins lost their first game of the tournament to the Poundmaker Raiders 4-1. That put them in a position where they had to win every other matchup or face elimination.

Along with the pressure of each game being a must win, the Redskins had to play five of their last seven games on Sunday.

"It was the luck of the draw," said the Redskins' bench boss. "It was tough, but I knew we had the legs."

Once Burnstick thought a game was won, he held some of his key players back so exhaustion wouldn't kill their chances of repeating.

"Once we got the lead, I put out the work horses," said Burnstick. "It was hard, but there's 23 guys on the roster."

The plan worked-after their initial loss the Redskins went on to win their next seven match-ups, including a game against the Canoe Lake Young Guns that went to overtime and was decided in a shootout. The Redskins emerged victorious, scoring two goals to the Young Guns one. The Redskin goals came from Ivan Roulette and Jamie Muswagon. Redskins' netminder Steve Wagner made the save on the final Young Gun shooter to advance his team to the semi-finals.

"It's one of those things where I have a lot of fun," said Wagner. "I try to take away as much of the net as I can. I stop a good percentage of shots and have a lot of success."

The Redskins only had 15 minutes to recharge after their shootout victory before meeting the Opaw Stars in the semi-final match.

They won that contest easily with a score of 5-1 and were on to the finals, and they were looking for some revenge.

Their opponent was the only team to beat them throughout the tournament-the Poundmaker Raiders.

"It was awesome. It made it a little bit sweeter," said netminder Wagner, who took home the most valuable goalie of the tournament award. "We felt good. We were focusing, and knew we could win the rest."

The Redskins jumped onto the board first in the final with a goal from Shawn Billy.

Billy was the third man in on a 3-on-1. Ashley Cameron slipped Billy the puck and he one-timed it past the Raiders goalie Ryan Person.

Within seconds, the Redskins had a two-goal lead thanks to Bill Cameron, who ripped a slapshot from just inside the blueline. The puck quickly found the webbing at the back of the net. Taylor Shanz and Curtis Cardinal assisted on the blast.

Shanz made it a 3-0 game early in the second on a breakaway.

He chipped the puck off the boards past a defender and had a clear path to Person. Shanz waited for the goalie to make his move, and went five hole. The goal was unassisted.

Shanz was named MVP of the tournament. He was also the top scorer.

"I've seen the names of past winners and there's some unbelievable players," said Shanz of his MVP honour. "It's almost as good as hoisting the cup."

He attributes his tournament success to his linemates Ryan Trottier and Bill Cameron.

"It's impossible to miss with those two guys," said Shanz.

The MVP of the tournament almost made it 4-0 with another breakaway goal, but this time Person came up big with a save.

The stop sparked the Raiders. They answered back with two goals of their own, one courtesy of Tyson Wuttunee, the other scored 30 seconds later by Ryan Corrigal.

Poundmaker's two quick goals spurred the Redskins on and after some hard work in front f the net the puck was eventually banged in by a Redskins' stick. Then Poundmaker scored again, bringing the score at the end of the second period to 4-3.

The Redskins felt the championship was within their grasp and went all out in the third. They collected two more goals to secure a 6-3 victory, winning the championship and handing the Poundmaker team its first loss of the tournament.

"We came out crashing and banging," said Steve Wagner. "We knew what to expect and we shut them down."