SUBMITTED PHOTO
The Medicine Hat U17 Thunder Red captured silver at the U17 AW provincials July 13 in Camrose. With the second-place finish, the Thunder clinched a spot into Westerns this weekend in Regina.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat U17 Thunder Red look to cap of their season atop Western Canada.
The Thunder head to Westerns in Regina starting Thursday, looking to play through until Sunday and earn themselves a Western Canadian championship.
“It’s what we worked all year for, from the start of the season our goal was to get to Westerns so it’s exciting,” head coach Ryan Thompson said. “There’s a lot of these girls who never experienced a tournament like that, so it’s going to be super exciting for us.”
The Thunder earned their spot with a second place finish at provincials in July and will be joined by the Calgary Adrenaline in Regina. They’ll have six round-robin games across the first three days of play before the top four teams in the nine-team tournament advance to the playoffs Sunday.
Thompson says they’ll look to capture the Western gold and enjoy the experience, one that doesn’t come around often in any sport. He says the Thunder have bonded well throughout the season, with players from Lethbridge, Dutchess and Bossano joining the Medicine Hat group and growing as a team since they formed in September.
“We’ve had key injuries, so it’s always nice to see players step up into other positions they don’t normally play with injuries being a part of sport,” Thompson said. “It’s just been exciting to see the growth of players, individually and the group as a team and as we grow, the confidence is building and this was our end goal. So our confidence is rolling high now and we’re peaking at about the perfect time.”
The Thunder open the tournament Thursday against Manitoba-2 and face Manitoba-1 later in the day. On Friday they get Saskatchewan-1 and B.C.-2 before wrapping the round robin up on Saturday against Saskatchewan-2 and B.C.-1.
Thompson says reaching Westerns wouldn’t have been possible without the buy-in from players and the support from the rest of the coaching staff and parents throughout the summer.
“All the parents who have driven countless miles for the girls and all the coaches who have put in countless hours at practice, the girls appreciate it and all of us coaches appreciate them,” Thompson said.
