The Kikino Red Army battled their way to a second consecutive provincial title in style last weekend at the Alberta Native Hockey Provincials in Edmonton.
The team ran the table at a second straight tournament to be crowned provincial kings, winning most of their games by large margins, including a 13-2 rout of Siksika in the championship showdown.
The Kikino Red Army battled their way to a second consecutive provincial title in style last weekend at the Alberta Native Hockey Provincials in Edmonton.
The team ran the table at a second straight tournament to be crowned provincial kings, winning most of their games by large margins, including a 13-2 rout of Siksika in the championship showdown.
It was a fitting end for the squad, who capped off a dominating regular season by winning the league championship, defeating all challengers at a tournament in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, before journeying to Edmonton and defending their title. Head coach Cory Cardinal said he couldn’ t have asked for a better season out of his squad.
“This is as good as it gets. They’ re triple-crown winners - everywhere I took them, they won,” he said.
Red Army captain Dalton Cardinal, who is in his third year on the team and in his last season of minor hockey, was one of the tournament’ s leading scorers. The team veteran said defending the provincial title was the perfect way to cap off the season and his years in minor hockey.
“It’ s awesome, especially because it was my last two years in hockey. Just finishing off my last year with a championship - it’ s pretty great,” he said, adding that he’ s proud of the team for its solid effort this season. “We were hard-working all year and we just kept on rolling. Everywhere we went, we just kept winning.”
One of the keys to the Red Army’ s success over the last few seasons has been the extra work put in by the team in the off season to stay in shape and team build. Coach Cardinal registers the team in spring and summer programs in Edmontonkeep the team on the ice, and he plans on doing the same thing again this year with the returning players - who will be moving into leadership roles next season. He said those players were integral to the team’ s success this year, and are ready to step up next season.
“Once again, they came through for us. These boys, they’ re ready to take that leadership role next year,” he said.
For now, though, the team is just going to enjoy its victory. Cardinal said [as of last Tuesday] several players on the team had been hanging out ever since the final buzzer in Edmonton, and the excitement had yet to wear off.
“It feels awesome. These boys were on top of the world,” he said.
