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West Coast Excitment- Stampede bring home Hardware
2010-05-17
The 18u Stampede held the #1 seed going into the Weekend at the Div 2 level. A placement that they would soon prove to VC was not appropriate. They certainly went out and did what they had to winning their first 7 Matches handily. In fact by average scores of 25-15 in Saturday power pools, showing that they were just getting heated up.
An early victory on Sunday over BCO Red (MIssion, BC) brought them into the semifinal; we would see a rematch of the Div 1 Tier 2 Finals of the Ontario Championships and the girls were face to face with rivals Forest City from London. The match proved to be the true final as both teams went on to win their respective following games. FC in the Gold and the Stampede would bring home bronze.
The 18u Shotguns went somewhere no girls team had ever been for this club before. Deep into the playoff run on Sunday at a Div 1 Full Canadian NAtional Championship.
It was not an easy run but rather one that would harden the team like steel in a forge. Friday began with a relatively challenging hook-up with Coquitlam Ducks, and then a rematch of the BoW semifnal of Winnipeg Cobras. The weekend hinged here on a pivotal moment. The girls had not performed well in the first losing 25-19 and now trailed 22-23 in the second. A timeout, just to remind the team of just what they were made of; seemed to spark a fire that would rage for two more days. "Be the winners you are meant to be." The team burst out of that time out and won the next three point and dismantled the Cobras 15-11 in the 3rd. A losing battle but winning effort vs the Dinos (#2 Seed) left the 'Guns with a 2-1 1st day record and a grateful group moving on to power pool play.
Saturday saw them in a deja vu of last year. An Ontario team that had our number (Titans), the powerhouse Bisons from Manitoba (eventual silver medalists) and A pesky team from Dartmouth. Last year a three way tie for 1st wasn't good enough so it had to be better this time. Incredible performances by all the girls saw them winning this powerpool after beating both Titans and Bisons in 3 sets. The Bedford match was a welcome mental relief after two days of pounding.
The road opened up for the team as they stole the number 4 seed from Bisons and found themselves against a good but physically smaller Focus Kaboom from BC. A tight first set kept everone on their toes but by halfway through the second and a run of five aces by Myriam English (Natonal All Star) the semi-finals were no longer a dream
TOP FOUR, amazing when some mocked a goal of top eight put fourth by the team after being 4th in Ontario alone. So here they were facing the two time defending National Champion Brandon Storm. Holders of a perfect 14-0 set record in the tournament, which quickly went to 15-0 after a 25-15 rout. Second set and a few sublte changes to the game plan along with the reinsertion of a determined Chelsey Litjens and the imposing block of Vicky Savard made the difference as the 'Guns "stormed" back to take the second 26-24, the first blemish on a perfect record for the Brandon group. (they would go on to defeat Bisons in straight sets)
In the third, an early slip left the Shotguns trailing 3-8 at the switch but they battled back and won the second half (8-7) but alas it was not enough as the math makes that 15-11 Brandon and the end of the magic was here. The Bronze medal also slipped through their hands but not until after they had played the near perfect set undressing KW Preds 25-15 in the first.
The 18u Mustangs were in the hole before leaving the aiport in Ottawa. Marc Begin was unable to fly due to illness and remained home. After claiming Silver in Waterloo many of us looked forward to a thrilling Sunday for these guys. Unfortunately as is always true in sport you cannot coach or predict for, injury, illness and downright tough luck. (Pools at Nationals are a crap shoot at best and the Mustangs ran into an up and coming Calgary team in their first match) This CAKVC team caught everyone off guard in the AVA provincials and began right wre they left off in BC. They surprised the short handed 'stangs off the start. Needing to regroup and after a rebound win in their second game the guys were in for the fight of their life against Niverville Manitoba (eventual fourth place finishers) A hard played loss ended the run at a repeat for several members of the '09 Mustangs.
However like true champions they returned Saturday and crushed teams from BC, Manitoba and Alberta setting up a run at the Div 2 championship Sunday. Sunday had other things in mind as it was not to be. The devastation of injury and illness mounted with the ankle sprain of Everett Delorme and the guys were eliminated early Sunday morning. A finish that truely does not diminish the incredible run of medals at evey tournament in the OVA this season, something rarely accomplished by any 18u guys team.
The 17u Boys Desperados had the run everyone would look for on Friday and Saturday- perfection. Teams from places like; Edmonton, Whitehorse, Pt Coquitlam, fell hard and fast Friday while Creston, Vernon and Waterloo went down Saturday. Things were looking good and the boys were playing great.
Then the quarters Sunday came up a little different than expected-here we were right back in Ontario again against the eventual Champions Crush from Toronto. A team we have seen and know all to well, a repeat of last year's East National victory by our guys would be sweet- but Crush's memory was still very much intact. The Desperados put up a valiant battle but in the end Crush had more to prove and won by identical 25-20 scores. Top 8 in Canada? Seems like I have seen that before. And the following year.. what!