The St. Paul Saik Insurance Services Midget 1 Canadiens hockey team hosted a tournament on Dec. 6 and 7 in St. Paul. Eight teams made their way to town for the event, with games being held at both the Clancy Richard and CAP arenas.
The first game of the tournament saw the host team taking on the CR Knights. The Canadiens fell just short in the contest by a score of 5-4. Damon Roy (2), Levi Labant and Dylan Odgaard were the goal scorers in the contest.
“We played hard, we just made a couple of mistakes that came back and bit us,” head coach Bob Gagne said after the game. “We’re just going to come out and play as hard as we can for the rest of the tournament, and hopefully see some results.”
The head coach added that playing in a tournament like this on their home ice definitely makes for an additional level of support.
“We’ve got the fans behind us. It’s great to see the grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins come out to watch the kids,” he said. “I think the kids get pumped up with that.”
“Our goal is to work 110 per cent every shift and play aggressive hockey,” added Carson Ference, the team’s assistant captain. “We’ve got all the fans on our side.”
The Canadiens’ went on to play against the Edmonton SEERA Samsquanches in their second game of the tournament. The two teams skated to a 2-2 tie, with team captain Mathew Skyrpan getting credit for both Canadiens’ goals.
Their third and final game was a 5-2 loss to the Lac La Biche Transport Midget Clippers. Roy netted both of the host team’s goals in the matchup. With two losses and a tie, the team failed to make it to the tournament final.
As far as the regular season goes, the team is currently 1-5 in NEAHL Midget Tier I play.
“We’ve had a little bit of a shaky start, but we’re getting going now,” Ference said. “It’s a great group of guys. Everybody is talking and enjoying it and having a good time.”
“We had a slow start, but I’ve seen a tremendous amount of improvement. The kids are coming together as a group. There’s just a really good core of kids in there,” Gagne said. “I’d say that we’re one of the faster teams, but we’re also one of the smaller teams, and one of the younger teams in the league. We only have six third-year kids out of 19 skaters.”
Though the team hopes to turn things around on the scoreboard as the season progresses, Gagne has other aspirations for the team and its players.
“We just hope that the kids come and have fun, that’s our number one goal,” he said. “At the end of the year, if they want to come back and play next year, I think we’ve achieved our goal.”
The Vermilion Midget Tigers ended up winning the tournament’s A Final over the weekend, while the Lac La Biche Transport Midget Clippers were victorious in the B Final.
