The Sundre novice Huskies nearly managed to take top spot at their recent home tournament.
The home team secured a second-place finish to win silver during the Dec. 1-2 event, which brought out seven teams for a total of eight including the hosts to the Sundre Arena, said head coach Shaun Bartholow.
The visitors came from Canmore, Olds, Duchess, Edmonton, Caroline, Cochrane and Bowden, said Bartholow, adding each team played three games.
The Huskies made it to the final against Canmore — who won that match 6-2 to claim gold. The team beat Caroline 7-3 in the first game and then defeated Olds 6-1 in the second game, the coach said, adding the squad from Bowden earned a bronze medal.
“They played really well,” he said about the Huskies, who this year have 15 players made up of a roughly even mix of first- and second-year players.
The Huskies ended up in the Central Alberta Hockey League’s tier 4, while Canmore and Duchess are in tier 3. The Huskies faced off once earlier this season against Canmore during tiering rounds and lost 13-2. Closing that spread substantially against the higher-ranked squad that is comprised mostly of second-year players just a few weeks later shows how much the team has grown in a relatively short period of time, he said.
“They’ve improved dramatically,” he said.
“I knew coming into the season that we had a lot of young players,” he said, adding that represents a potential for growth.
Less than a month ago, the coach would have considered winning a couple of games throughout the whole season a success. But they have already won two out of four regular league games, he said on Friday.
“The kids are surprising everybody.”
Facilitating the coaching effort are Lonny Mackenzie and Kevin Seidel, as well as additional helping hands from Marty Rock, Tyler Mahan and Wade Church, said Bartholow, expressing gratitude for the support.
Funds raised at the tournament further support the players’ skill development through extracurricular activities such as inviting power skating instructors, and visits to training facilities in Calgary like a planned trip to a centre that offers a treadmill with fake ice that helps improve the mechanics of a skater’s stride, he said.
“We find player development is where you need to spend the money,” he said, adding funds raised also help to cover prizes for the tournament as well as ice and referee fees.
Each individual novice Husky works hard from start to finish during practices and games, and coaches are primarily focused on skill-based drills, he said.
“Some teams take us for granted — I think we surprise them a little bit with our hard work.”
Strategies such as positioning and passing are being introduced, but at the younger age of novice players, the emphasis primarily remains on ensuring players have a good grasp on skating mechanics, stickhandling and shooting. Diving into specific offensive or defensive plays on the whiteboard comes later as the players mature, he said.
To keep up with the Sundre Minor Hockey Association’s activities, either visit www.sundreminorhockey.ca or follow the organization’s social media presence.
