Submitted Photo The midget AA Hounds celebrate their provincial championship Sunday in Edmonton.
srooney@medicinehatnews.com@MHNRooney
It was a dream finish Sunday in Edmonton for the Medicine Hat midget AA Hounds.
The Hounds won a provincial championship, many of them playing their last games in minor hockey, culminating with a 5-2 win over the Calgary Canucks.
“This year we had a pretty veteran-heavy team so we were hoping we could go alll the way,” said Ryley Manz, who had the game’s first two goals and finished with four points. “It was a great time, everyone’s pretty pumped.”
Manz scored five minutes in, then again on a power play with five left in the first period.
After dominating the five-team tournament but needing a bit of help to get to the final, the Hounds showed how far they’ve come in two years under head coach Randy Wong, assistant Kevin Riehl and the rest of the team’s staff.
Wong said Sunday he was impressed with how the team learned to finish off opponents and not shy away from big games, something they did in spades at provincials.
“We won as much as we could win this year playing midget AA in Alberta,” said Wong, who hadn’t coached a team to a title since before his days behind the bench with the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers. “Beginning last year we were close in games but we didn’t finish them off; we lost a lot of games 3-2. After Christmas something clicked.
“This is the group that went through and learned how to win. They got so much confidence they didn’t want to lose.”
Eric Van Loon and Maxwell Goldade scored to tie the game for the Canucks in the second period, but Connor Miller responded with what turned out to be the game-winner before the intermission. Levi Schlosser added insurance and Jacob Milne an empty-netter in the final minute.
“It was a pretty good effort by everyone,” said Manz, who’s one of the Hounds’ many graduating players. “We came in with a lot of confidence after winning the league, we were ready to go.”
Manz had planned to go to university this fall but suddenly has some scouts asking about his junior prospects. He led the provincial tournament with 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) and is a little beside himself at how his minor hockey days have ended.
“It’s a tough decision to make right now, but I want to continue hockey for a bit,” he said.
Milne’s 11 points and Brandon Kasdorf’s nine gave Medicine Hat the top three scorers in the tournament. They outscored opponents 23-8, losing 2-1 to St. Albert Saturday before a 9-3 win over Camrose a booked their ticket in the gold medal game.
Three teams actually finished the round robin 3-1 but goals for and against between them favoured Medicine Hat. Hat St. Albert even won 3-1 over the Hounds they would have finished second; Wong said he didn’t pull his goaltender going for a tie because of that possibility.
In the end, the long drive home was a relatively quiet one, said Wong, though that’s certainly not how it started.
After all, precious few players get to finish their minor hockey careeer with a win.
