From long country drives on frozen nights travelling to unassuming rinks, to tussles and lineup changes on the ice, to bull sales and volunteer events off the ice, it was a long road to the provincial championships for the Innisfail Eagles.
Sipping the sweet taste of success from the Ray Marsh trophy in their own dressing room at the conclusion of the 2013 Senior AA/A Investors Group Hockey Alberta Provincials April 7 after beating the Daysland Northstars 8-3 was the perfect cap to an extraordinary season.
“It feels unreal,” said Tyler Kellor, taking a break from jubilant celebrations, after he got a goal and two assists in the big Sunday win, including a point on the game-winner. “We stuck to the way we wanted to play and we did it. That's a tight-knit team in there.”
Tournament organizers are calling the Alberta-wide playoff event a success, after averaging 500 fans a game, including nearly 1,000 for the gold medal match. Randy's Skate Sharpening prepped 96 pairs of skates and the beer gardens went through 60 flats of beer over the weekend.
Opening ceremonies officially got the ball rolling as Mayor Jim Romane gave a welcoming word to attendees, Under-18 Canadian Women's Team champion Tayrn Baumgardt dropped the puck and Linda Beaton sang O Canada.
Ryan Kallis got the action started for the Eagles with a nifty goal in the first game against the Devon Barons, thanks to crisp passing from Kent Beagle and Brody Malek. The Barons fired back right away but couldn't stop an avalanche of goals, leading to their 7-2 defeat.
The Eagles faced off the following day against the Tofield Satellites for the semifinal game. Satellites player Doug Woiken, who hurt his wrist in Game 5 of league play-downs blocking a shot against Daysland, cheered on his brother Matt.
Tofield was no match for the Eagles, who downed them 5-0 with Colin Stebner picking up the shutout.
“It's my first one of the year,” the Innisfail goalie said. “I just wanted to stop every puck.”
Kellor said the Eagles hadn't given up many chances in the semifinal game, and needed to stay focused on carrying that energy into the final against Daysland.
“It's the last game of the year – you've gotta win it,” he said. “We anticipated playing Daysland in the final and were ready.”
Gord Bamford sang the national anthem to kick off a game that remained zero-zero after one period of play.
Kent Beagle connected on a drive with Ryan Kallis and Sean Neumeier to kick off the scoring at 15:56 in the second. Just minutes later the momentum was halted when Daysland's Todd Steil fired a solo effort through traffic past Jasen Kipling.
The flurry of goals continued like the flurries that had fallen over the course of the weekend outside the Innisfail Twin Arena and the Eagles went to the dressing room down 3-2 heading into the final period of play.
“It was intense,” said Innisfail's Kelly Rogers. “They played well in the second.”
Coach Brian Sutter instilled confidence in the team during intermission, reminding them of the power they have.
“I told the guys they're in the driver seat,” he said. “We have a plan. We know what we're going to do. We know how we're going to do it.”
Darnell Glass started the Eagles' offensive drive with a big one before Tyler Helfrich got his hands on the puck and put the Eagles back in the lead once again at 14:00.
From then on the Eagles had a field day as they managed four more goals, much to the delight of the hometown crowd.
“It's not very often you get to win,” said Dan Shermerhorn, who lost to Daysland last year as a member of the Carstairs Redhawks. “That's why we play the whole year. There are five or six of us on here from that Carstairs team and you know what? It's sweet.”
