ST. PAUL - Despite having a younger than average team, the St. Paul Canadiens' U18 hockey team battled through league play downs and brought home this year's NEAHL Tier II banner, while also earning themselves a berth at provincials.
Coach Ken Siewiertoka says it was an exciting game on March 19 when the Canadiens travelled to Marwayne. The St. Paul team had previously beat the first-seeded Marwayne team by a score of 9-3 in the first game of the final series.
Speaking about the second game, Siewiertoka says St. Paul was able to take the lead 3-1 in the first period, but Marwayne fought back and tied the game in the second period. Then, Marwayne grabbed the lead with a goal, and St. Paul forced overtime with the tying goal being scored in the second half of the third period.
"Then we scored 38 seconds into overtime... it was a nail bitter,” says Siewiertoka.
The game-winning goal was scored by Brennen Riopel, and assisted by Parker Sabatier.
Siewiertoka says the first game the Canadiens played against Marwayne was perhaps one of the most complete games the Canadiens had played all season, so heading into the second game, "we were feeling pretty good."
But, it was an elimination game, and Marwayne showed up to play.
The St. Paul team included just four third-year players, explains Siewiertoka, while Marwayne had about nine third-year players at the U18 level. About half of the St. Paul team is made up of first-year players at the U18 level, meaning there were a number of 15-year-olds playing against a number of 17 and 18-year-olds.
Another unique characteristic fo the St. Paul team is that there are three sets of siblings playing on the team this year. With a slightly larger age bracket at the U18 level, the season offered an opportunity for brothers to play together who may have never played together on a team.
Two of the siblings are Siewiertoka's sons, Nic and Josh. Also playing on the team are brothers Julian and Logan Renauld and brothers Evan and Ryan Songer.
As a coach and parent, Siewiertoka says it was fantastic to see the siblings play together.
"It was a treat."
He adds that his older son, Nic, had taken a couple years away from playing hockey, but decided to play if his younger brother played.
The team also includes two players who came in from Saddle Lake due to the community not having a U18 team this season.
Siewiertoka credits his fellow coaching staff - Chuck Lang and Ryan Yopyk - for another key piece of the team's success. The U18 Canadiens had a really strong special teams, and the head coach says Lang and Yopyk are responsible for helping the players develop in that area.
He adds the team's manager Gisele Langevin-Fontaine was also another key piece to the team's overall success.
Provincial bound
The Canadiens will now be heading to U18 Tier II provincials, scheduled for March 31 to April 3 in Westlock. Some of the players on this year's team have experience playing at provincials, winning the Atom A provincial tournament in 2015.
But, others have never attended a provincial tournament, which means it will be a unique experience for them. The team will hit the ice for practices a few times leading up to the weekend.
Looking back on the season, Siewiertoka says it was hard to predict if there would even be a full season. But, everyone was thrilled to get through a fairly normal hockey season, following two incomplete seasons due to the pandemic.
When asked if there were any challenges as a coach due to the athletes' lack of ice-time over the course of the pandemic, Siewiertoka says the team is made up of a number of multi-sport athletes. Some of the hockey players also play basketball, while others play volleyball or football, so getting back into routine was fairly easy.
"The kids were excited to hit the ice in the fall."
As a coach, Siewiertoka says one of his focuses is always on "effort," and that is exactly what his team has shown this season.
“I’m just very proud of the effort... I'm really impressed with this group of kids," he says, adding, the hockey players were respectful and worked hard throughout the season.
