SUNDRE - The peewee Huskies won all three of their games during the recent home tournament, proudly taking home gold trophies for a well-earned victory.
The local squad hosted seven teams from Oyen, Clive, Sherwood Park, Mill Woods, St. Albert, Rocky Mountain Athletic Association, and 3C’s (Coronation, Castor, Consort) Minor Hockey Association.
After defeating Sherwood Park in Game 1 on Friday, Jan. 3, followed by another win against 3C’s the next day during Game 2, the Huskies faced off against Oyen in the A final on Sunday, Jan. 5, said coach Dallas Rosevear, who is also the Sundre Minor Hockey Association’s league director.
Having previously observed Oyen’s ability to dominate along the boards during other games in the tournament, the coach said he directed his team to instead focus on going down the middle.
“We’re a better skating team,” said Rosevear.
Battling along the boards against Oyen, whose players are bigger, would have played to that team’s advantage and allowed them to win. The Huskies largely succeeded in ensuring the puck stayed away from the boards, he said, paving the way for their 9-2 victory.
“They’re doing well. They’re finally starting to click,” he said, adding plays that the team has worked on during practice are successfully transitioning into gameplay.
“It’s crazy how they’ve improved these last couple of months.”
Throughout the tournament, the coach said he heard several bemused hockey fans wonder where the Huskies came from.
“People couldn’t believe how well they played.”
As of last week the team was ranked in third place in the Central Alberta Hockey League’s peewee tier 5 division among about eight teams. He said the Huskies have done a great job not only listening to the coaches’ strategies, but also executing the plays they’ve developed.
With four, second-year atoms who have moved up to peewee and only three, second-year peewee veterans, Rosevear said the Huskies are a fairly young and mixed team.
Regardless, he said their confidence has grown, and “they’ve improved substantially. The way they’re playing, we’re going to make a good run to win the division’s league final.”
Their strengths, he added, lay largely in controlling the puck, passing and breakouts.
But they’ve also got an impressive power play, which Rosevear called one of the best in the league. The Huskies take advantage of that and capitalize on their competition’s penalties, he said.
“We’ve got a lot of power-play goals,” he said, adding his team is well disciplined.
“We don’t take a lot of penalties.”
During the last few practices, the coach has focused his team’s effort on set plays as well as the penalty kill for the rare time when a player ends up in the box.
Rosevear also extended his gratitude to parents and organizers who invested a huge amount of work to facilitate the effort to host the tournament.
“It was fantastic,” he said.
“I got a great group of parents. They allow me to coach, and I don’t have to worry about anything else except the kids and coaching. It’s a blessing having the parent group we have.”
