This is the story of the 19 Kuper sisters that traveled to St Albert, Alberta to take on Canada's best midget AAA teams. I say 19 Kuper sisters because the first day of the competition I was asked if this was all one family, based on the name bars!
Travel day to Edmonton and on to St Albert, was a long haul. We had delays of an hour leaving m Montreal and Toronto and arrived at Edmonton 10:30 pm...by the time the girls were off the plane, got their luggage and loaded onto the bus, it 11:30 and they had to go direct to the rink to deposit the their equipment in the room.
Upon arrival in the room, the girls were completely caught off guard, the rooms were set up like a Team Canada dressing room ...name bars indicating where the girl would sit, team canada mats on the floors to protect their skates, gatorade water bottles, tank and gatorade to prevent dehydration... Amourall t shirts, bags...what a first impression! On the down side, our dressing room was in the Mark Messier rink BUT we were playing in the Performance rink (seating capacity 2300!)...while it was not the 7 minutes that the Canadiens had to walk during the Heritage classic, it was a good 2 minutes anyways! We were placed in that dressing room because of the performance of the Quebec representatives from the year before.
Day 1 of the tournament, we leave the hotel by bus at 10h00, game time 12h00. The clock starts ticking down from 60 minutes at 11h00, we take the ice at 11h25 for a 15 minute warmup and then return to the room for an ice re-surfacing. We return to the ice at 11h58, the team mascots skate the ice waving our Quebec flag, then we have our starting goaltender and the starting five on the ice for the National Anthem.
(This was the procedure for the first three games, all of our games had the same procedure except the times changed).
We played the Atlantic representative, from Prince Edward Island, King's County Kings. We were victorious 5-0. Following the game, they girls did their post game run and then showered and returned to the bus for the trip back to the hotel.
The game summary and scoring details are available at this link.
http://www.hockeycanada.ca/index.php/ci_id/75138/la_id/1/game_id/151559/season_id/151553/ss_id/68446/
My capacity at this tournament was to be the branch representative for Hockey Quebec. I was required to attend the coaches meetings, the directorate meetings and supervise games for Hockey Canada. The coaches and I attended a meeting when we arrived Saturday night, we were shuttled in separate from the team to attend those meetings.
Following our game, I stayed at the Arena to supervise the Notre Dame Hounds v. Edmonton Thunder. Wow! Tremendous hockey, physical the likes of which I have never seen before and I had seen significant contact in girls hockey outside Quebec, but this was all out warfare! Imagine, the Hounds out shot the Thunder 14-1 in the first period, but the Thunder were up 1-0. I can fast forward for you, both these teams reach the gold medal game.
Game summary and details , please follow this link: http://www.hockeycanada.ca/index.php/ci_id/75138/la_id/1/game_id/151567/season_id/151553/ss_id/68446/
After watching this game, i felt we may be a little over matched against theses teams in the tournament, but I recognized that if we had a Midget AAA , with the talent that we have in Lac St Louis, we could challenge either of those teams and have a decent shot at the gold. I would think the same would for Richelieu, Estrie and Quebec.
The final game of the was the host St Albert Slash vs. Toronto Aeros. I did not see that game, 8 hours at the arena was enough for me the first day. But the Slash upset Toronto in shoot outs.
Here is the link to the game summary and scoring details: http://www.hockeycanada.ca/index.php/ci_id/75138/la_id/1/game_id/151861/season_id/151553/ss_id/68446/
The scoring for the standings is 3 points for a victory in regulation, 2 for a win in overtime or shootout and 1 for an overtime or shoot out loss. So, with two games going to shootouts, we found ourselves in first place at the conclusion of day 1.
Day 2 the opponent was the Notre Dame Hounds. we did not have a practice prior to game one, as we arrived so late, so we held a practice for our second goaltender (who had been in Poland 36 hours before and our suspended player. The coaches put them through the paces to get them game ready and then, returned to the room for game preparation). This is the first day the school outreach program kicks in. Over the course of the tournament, 3000 school kids would come into the arena, with noise makers , they were there to cheer on a specific teams and when you give kids the day off school and ask them to make as much noise as they can, boy! are they up for the challenge!
The Hounds are made up of players from many recruiting territories as Notre Dame is recognized as a residential school, which means the players are eligible to play in Hockey Canada events as they fall into that category. Now, there are those who think its wrong and out west there are many! But I think its good for the game. Narrowing the talent gap, having full time professional coaching and off ice training along with an administered and supervised nutrition program provides for a stronger athlete and allows us to see what is possible for the talented athlete that is provided all the resources an elite athlete requires.
Notre Dame defeated us 6-0. It was not for a lack of trying on our part. The Hounds were that good! Four of their defensemen played on provincial teams at the Canada Games in February, and so did 2 of their forwards.
Game summary and scoring details : http://www.hockeycanada.ca/index.php/ci_id/75138/la_id/1/game_id/151864/season_id/151553/ss_id/68446/
So, as I suspected we were not going to win all our games 5-0! My analysis stood strong, had a Lac St Louis Midget AAA team competed against the Hounds the outcome would have been very different. I am not taking anything away from either team, simply recognizing the depth of talent in our region and how it would compare against the effort that was witnessed in this game versus the Hounds.
Now, we knew we were a medal round contender. But who were we going to beat to get in ? Toronto? the host? Both?
Day 3, we play Toronto Areos. This was going to be a test. You know every team from Ontario have to be good to get the Esso Cup and this team has a recruiting territory from Hamilton in the west, to Collingwood in the North, Markham to the east and in the middle, the small hockey community of Toronto to build their team from.
And it was a test. we lost 5-1. But , we mustard 22 shots against this team in a losing effort and we realized, we can play with this team just fine! Morgan Moffat, a second year Bantam goalie came into the game in relief of Laurie Anne Beaulieu...showed that she could compete comfortably at this level. The Aeros coach had mentioned that they had not lost two games in a row all season, so he wanted to see how his team would respond and i think he was happy with the outcome.
Game summary and scoring: http://www.hockeycanada.ca/index.php/ci_id/75138/la_id/1/game_id/151874/season_id/151553/ss_id/68446/
Day 4 we would play the Edmonton Thunder. Consider this, there are four Midget AAA boys teams in the city of Edmonton, a city with a population of 1.2 million. But they only have 1 girls Midget AAA team. As one of our hosts expressed to us, they are the representative of the Pacific region this year, they were last year and they will be next year!
The Kodiaks would out shoot the Thunder, 30-22 but were on the losing end of a 2-1 score. Again, we were making progress. "As the branch rep from Hockey Alberta observed of our performance, "Your girls are getting better every game!"
Game summary and scoring: http://www.hockeycanada.ca/index.php/ci_id/75138/la_id/1/game_id/151888/season_id/151553/ss_id/68446/
With the loss, we were now in a do or die position. We needed to defeat the host team, St Albert Slash, in regulation or we were eliminated.
Day 5, we play the St Albert Slash. Before I discuss the Slash, I would like to address the facilities which were amazing to all, what a community center! Its 3 years old, it cost $30 million, there were 2 rinks there before they build the Servuss Place around it... Mark Messier Arena and Troy Murray Arena, http://www.servusplace.ca/ . One or two of these in Lac St Louis would help take our development of athletes to the next level. The second and more important point I wanted to address is the people. WOW! Great people, 200 volunteers , not kids earning community services badges, moms and dads giving back to the community.
So, the St Albert Slash is part of the St Albert Raiders program. They get the same kind of ice allocation we get and they play in a provincial league, they cover the entire province for their games. Including travel, the team budget is $8,000 per player...they do alot of fundraising to cover that cost.
Well, the Kodiaks were a determined group. They were not going to be denied on this day! We attacked the Slash on the forecheck, on the back check and the goaltending was great! We won 4-2 to eliminate the host team. On the one side we were elevated! On they other, we pushed the host team from their own party.
Thursday night (Day 5) was the awards banquet. And, our team was the best dressed team there. We were shut out of the awards but we looked good, sounded the loudest and we benefited from the experience. Our key note speaker was Lori-Ann Muenzer, an Olympic Gold medalist who won her gold in 2004 in Athens at the age of 38. What am amazing story that reached the girls for sure! Lori-Ann left u with the message, there is a gold medal in all of you!
Day 6, we face the number 1 team in the tournament, Edmonton Thunder. We already know going into our game that if we win, we are playing the Hounds and if we lose we are playing the Aeros. So, why not win, and fight for supremacy!
Well, we had some problems with the refereeing. we were getting calls against us and you cannot take penalties against Edmonton. We would lose 4-1. But a tremendous effort by each and every Kodiak. I have not mentioned an individual effort over the team in this report to this point, but I do feel the need to salute Abby Frazer on the game she played against Edmonton. I was sitting in the Edmonton section and when one other their parents yelled out "Way to go 9!, you knew they were impressed with her effort...above and beyond any expectation of Abby, and Abby was one of the final releases of U18 Team Canada, so imagine the level she cranked up ! I don't know for a fact, but i don't think Abby's getting released this year at the U18 camp!
Game summary and scoring: http://www.hockeycanada.ca/index.php/ci_id/75138/la_id/1/game_id/151909/season_id/151553/ss_id/68446/
In my capacity, I need to attend a directorate meeting following our game to discuss the protocols for the TSN broadcast of the Gold medal game, deal with referee assignments and other minor protocols. The television part was new for me. Very interesting. TSN wants the puck drop at 6:08:30, not before. It was ok to be late to 6:10, not longer. Commercials would be at the 14 minute mark and the 8 minute mark. The celebration has to be like this... I learn that the referee we are getting is the same referee we had in the semi final game. I know when I tell the coach, he is not going to be happy.
The refereeing was not poor, I don't want you to get that impression. It was inconsistent with the refereeing that was conducted in the tournament prior to that game. There were marginal calls that were made, and difficult for a coach to coach it out of the team.
I announced the news to the coach. He reacted as expected. Before we headed to the team bus, I took the opportunity to ave a chat with the head supervisor of refereeing and the Head Chair for the Female Hockey was also in attendance. I discussed the situation, they knew that there were inconsistencies with the referring of our game as they were kind enough to acknowledge some of them. We parted with an understanding from bother sides, done in a very respectful and mature manner.
Day 7, the bad news arrives! The day starts early as some of the girls are experiencing flu symptoms...four girls are sick, one cannot leave the hotel, one cannot play and the other two decide to give it their best shot. But clearly we are not at our best. Toronto defeats us 4-0, they were full marks for the victory but we still have to wonder, what if we were 100% for that game? The refereeing was fine for the game, maybe our talk helped , maybe the talk was not justified and the referee had that quality a game in her all the time.
Game summary and scoring: http://www.hockeycanada.ca/index.php/ci_id/75138/la_id/1/game_id/151912/season_id/151553/ss_id/68446/
We attend the gold medal game, our girls are rooting for the Hounds because the Thunder eliminated us. Great hockey game, I hope you had the opportunity to see the game on TSN 2.
Day 8, Easter Sunday! We spend the entire day in transit, arrive in Montreal 23H30 and get out after midnight.
So, to this point the coaches contribution has not been mentioned, I did not tell you that JP Fortier came out to St Albert, Alberta with his family to support the Kodiaks and I did not mention that Mrs Salete and her son Rob both came out to St Albert, Alberta to support the girls, well they did... excellence starts at the top and both organizations work hard at developing excellence and when you see the support these leaders offer, it is no wonder they are achieving it.
To see these girls, together sharing their computers while in the airports with the long delays,, going to get their passion fruit ice teas! It strikes me, maybe the fans the first day were right! Maybe they are 19 sisters!
Now, the coaches. I have spent the last 9 years with the midget espoir level, one year at midget aaa,...this was a different experience! The coaches handled this team like a family, they worked out the meals in the a family suite, they had a little contest on the bus where the last person on the bus had to sing, well don't you know that is weighted against the coaches as they have to make sure they have everyone on the bus...and the girls were singing, and the coaches were singing and this was win or lose...Our bus driver Mike, enjoyed his time with the team so much, that he removed himself from driving the other team whenever possible so he could be with this bunch...and that is a tribute to BRUCE HANNOUGH, BRITNEY PRIVEE, RODNEY TAYLER...and the errands and shuttling and scouting performed by CARMINE STARNINIO, to make sure the team was prepared and that the team had everything they needed ...truly a TEAM!
And, a big Salute to Dawn Hannough for the time and effort she put in with the girls, helping with the study halls, dealing with the girls when they were sick...I salute you, Dawn , excellent work!
so, thats my report...as long winded as it was, I apologize....I would like every girl who plays hockey in Lac St Louis to get the opportunity to participate in the Esso Cup! As Lori Ann Muenzer stated, " there is a gold medal in all of you!"
Lac St Louis Kodiaks, number 4 in the nation!
Next year, Charlottetown, PEI!
