Saskatchewan hockey teams bring home bronze

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Both Saskatchewan entries returned home with some hardware from this year's National Aboriginal Hockey Championships (NAHC).

The fourth annual national tournament was staged April 17 to 23 in Miramichi, N.B., with the Saskatchewan girls' and boys' clubs each winning bronze medals in their divisions. A total of 18 clubs-nine female and nine male-participated at this year's tournament.

The Saskatchewan girls' squad had placed fourth at the 2004 national staged in Prince George, B.C.

Shirley MacDonald, the team's manager and assistant coach, said this year's club was a much improved one.

"There was a huge difference in the talent level," she said. "We did a lot more recruiting this year."

The team ended up playing seven games in Miramichi and posted a rather impressive record of 5-1-1.

"Only having one loss tells you about the calibre of team we had," MacDonald said.

A year ago the girls' division at the nationals featured seven teams. MacDonald said her charges wanted to at least duplicate last season's finish even though there were two additional participating clubs this time around.

"We wanted to at least finish fourth," she said. "So we did meet our expectations. And being able to get a medal, we were extremely, extremely pleased with the play of all of the kids."

Besides Saskatchewan, also taking part in the tournament were clubs representing British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario North, Ontario South, the Northwest Territories, the Atlantic provinces and Quebec-based clubs dubbed Eastern Door and the North (EDN).

The Saskatchewan female squad began the tournament with a convincing 9-2 victory over Team Atlantic. That was followed up with a 4-1 triumph over Ontario North.

Saskatchewan then managed to remain undefeated after it battled to a 6-6 draw against Manitoba. The Saskatchewan side was content with the tie, especially since it overcame a five-goal (6-1) second period deficit.

Saskatchewan also earned a convincing 7-1 win over Alberta in its final round-robin match.

The club then prevailed 7-2 over Team Atlantic in its quarter-final match, but Saskatchewan's gold-medal aspirations were dashed when the team dropped a 6-4 decision against EDN in its semi-final contest.

MacDonald said her players struggled during the first two periods of their semi-final and found themselves trailing 4-1 heading into the final period.

"We told them to go out and win the final period and they did that, outscoring Eastern Door and the North 3-2," MacDonald said. "We were pleased with their comeback."

Saskatchewan rebounded from its lone loss and defeated Ontario North 7-2 in the bronze medal game.

EDN edged Ontario South 4-3 in the female gold-medal match.

As for the Saskatchewan boys' club, early on in the tournament it didn't appear it would have much success.

The club did win its opener, 4-2 against EDN. But Saskatchewan then suffered three consecutive losses against Manitoba (5-1), Alberta (5-1) and EDN (7-1).

"We were working hard," said Saskatchewan coach Courage Bear. "But our discipline wasn't always there."

In fact, the Saskatchewan club led the tournament in penalty minutes after its four round-robin matches.

"Early in the tournament we struggled to score," Bear said. "And that was part of the frustration that led to undisciplined play."

Bear said his players finally realized in the playoff portion of the tournament that spending a lot of time in the penalty box would not get them very far. Playing with its emotions in check, Saskatchewan, which was ranked seventh, managed to upset second-seeded EDN 6-2 in its quarter-final.

Saskatchewan was then edged 7-6 by top-ranked Team Atlantic in a semi-final contest.

But the Saskatchewan side still ended up with a medal as it doubled Manitoba 6-3 in their battle for the bronze.

"We're happy, considering the start we got off to," Bear said.

Ontario North edged Team Atlantic 3-2 in overtime in thegold-medal game.

The Saskatchewan male team had placed seventh at the 2004 nationals., yet Bear said his club still entered this year's tournament withs a goal of placing in the top three.

"If we didn't set our expectations to medal, I don't think we would have been there for the right reasons," he said.

Bear added the majority of the participating teams were evenly matched, Bear said.

"The difference between first place and seventh is not much."

None of the players from the Saskatchewan male club were named to the tournament all-star squad.

"Maybe that was deservedly so," Bear said. "They picked all the all-stars from the round-robin games. We didn't play our best there."

But the club did have one player-forward Keldon Sanderson -invited to participate in an Aboriginal high performance camp this July in Ottawa.

Meanwhile, the Saskatchewan girls' team had a pair of players, centre Tiffany Starchief and defender Dayna King, chosen to the tournament all-star squad.

Two other Saskatchewan players, forwards Tami McKenzie and Naomi Albert, also received invitations to the Ottawa high performance camp.