“I don't think that group of kids could have been more excited than when the goal was scored and the clock ran out,” Perdue said.
CANMORE – The final horn has sounded for Canmore’s minor hockey season, with a shiny new banner and months of new developments for youth players.
Taking the season by storm was the U11 Canmore Eagles Minor Hockey team, recording only one loss and a tie in 22 regular season games and en route to winning the Mountain League Championship.
“We've been unbeatable since the beginning of the season,” said U11 head coach Dustin Perdue. “We've had some adversity with injuries and other things, but the kids persevered through it all.”
Trailing 6-6 in Game 2 of a best-of-three playoff with Airdrie C, Eagles sniper Parks Heal sealed the championship with a stunning goal with less than 30 seconds remaining. The impressive goal was a heel hat trick.
“I don't think that group of kids could have been more excited than when the goal was scored and the clock ran out,” Perdue said.
More Canmore teams played in the upper tier, which led to “great competition throughout the season.”
Canmore Minor Hockey Association (CMHA) President Michael Hay said, “It's not like the team ran away and won a lot of banners, but that doesn't mean they weren't successful.”
“What we've been successful with and what we're here to do is develop young athletes. So our growth this year has been great.”
New this year is the addition of video reviews that allow players and coaches to look back and analyze the game. Players also had access to one-on-one clinics to further develop their on-ice skills.
“Those individual clinics and additional clinics outside of the doctor's office were all full,” Hay said. “The participation rate was almost 100 percent, and I was very happy because we had players who wanted to get better.”
For the first time in several years, the CMHA has confirmed the return of an all-girls team in the U7 league as part of the Introductory Hockey Model.
“With the resurgence of the PWHL, there's a lot of momentum right now to secure a very strong women's program. It was really exciting and a lot of people were happy to see that,” Hay said. “There were a lot of happy faces on the ice.”
Three Canmore players, Chase Keimhus, Kingston Kuell and Lucas Volta, were part of the Airdrie Havoc team that defeated the Okotoks Oilers 2-0 in a best-of-three game to win the U16AA league championship. However, he lost in the bronze medal race at the regional tournament.
“They won the first 12 games of the season,” hockey dad Sean Gemufus said proudly. “It's always a good start. I don't know if it's a league record or not, but it was a great start this year.”
The Airdrie team is comprised of players from areas such as Canmore, Cochrane, Minnie Nee, Cremona and Drumheller.
Volta played up front for the team, Cemfus played defense and Kuell guarded the net.
“Lucas, he's definitely an old-school player, a hard hitter, a strong player. Chase is a defenseman who skates smoothly and moves the puck well. Kingston is a calm, steady goaltender. existence,” Keimhus said.
Looking ahead to next season, Canmore's squad aims to continue their development at the highest possible tier.
“We want to continue to develop our players and really focus on getting them to play at a higher level,” Hay said.
“We want to see how next year goes and hope it brings better results because they have more experience now and the game is a little bit different when they start playing in higher tiers. So we're really looking forward to it.”
Hay, on behalf of CMHA, praised the community for its support during the season.
“I want to thank the village it takes to bring hockey to the valley. We have 300 players and we probably need 600 volunteers. But the community came together to help kids play the game. “It's really great to see them support playing,” he said.
