What do you get when you combine 13 kids, half who are newer skaters and a goalie who is brand new to goaltending this year, a lot of hard work and determination – third place in Prince Rupert!
The Kitimat Winterhawks Pee Wee House team who travelled to play in the Prince Rupert Pee Wee House Tournament are a bunch of hard-working kids along with their head coach Doug Graham and Assistant Coach Jay Carty.
Both coaches bring a wealth of experience and have been able to pass that knowledge onto the kids. They have focused on teamwork, respect and basic hockey ethics, which all shows on the ice.
The tournament started with the team playing the tournament winners, Houston, which resulted in a loss of 7-2.
The next game was also a loss at 4-1 to Terrace Dediluke, but that didn’t wreck the spirits of the Winterhawks and they were able to pull off two decisive wins for their next two games, 10-0 against Prince Rupert and a 7-5 win again Smithers, putting them into the running for the third place race against Terrace Fusion.
The game opened up with the Winterhawks scoring in the first 30 seconds which seemed to set the tone for the rest of the game. At one point in the second period, goaltender Derek Cunningham made a great stretched save and was hurt. This caused a few anxious moments as the team doesn’t have a backup goalie, but Derek pulled through for his team and the game went on. The kids passed well and acted more like a rep team than a house league team and were able to pull off a decisive 6-2 win.
Hard work and keeping their noses to the grindstone paid off for these kids, a great lesson not only for hockey but for life in these young kids’ lives. – Article supplied