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For Shattuck-St. Mary’s, Calgary feels rather a lot just like the pleasant hockey environment of Minnesota.
So the workforce that’s turning heads on the city-hosted Circle Okay Traditional has quick gotten comfortable right here.
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Sure … Tom Ward’s troops are making themselves at dwelling by dominating their video games in the course of the 18-and-under worldwide event.
“It’s like being at dwelling,” agreed Ward, the long-time boys’ prep coach for the varsity in Fairbault, Minn. “This is rather like dwelling for us. It’s like again in Minnesota. This can be a enjoyable occasion for this age of children.”
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Don’t they understand it.
“It’s rather a lot like again dwelling,” declared Will Zellers, Shattuck-St. Mary’s main goal- (28) and point-getter (55) by means of 29 video games on the season. “Everybody right here is so aggressive and desires to win badly. Up right here, it’s all hockey — similar to again dwelling, which is basically cool.”
Serving to to make it much more cool is that the outcomes are falling their approach — once more — in a bid to grow to be the primary program to earn 5 championship titles at this tourney.
Late Saturday, they obtained a step nearer to that aim by scoring a 7-1 victory over shock pool-winners Airdrie CFR Bisons within the occasion’s A-side quarterfinal motion.
“We got here all the best way up right here to attempt to do our greatest and put our greatest foot ahead,” mentioned Ward, of making an attempt to show a 20-hour bus journey right into a trophy soak up Monday’s championship remaining (3 p.m.). “We’ve been fortunate — we’ve obtained some good gamers, and so they wish to go play when there’s one thing on the road.
“We’ve put our greatest foot ahead right here just a few occasions.”
And the way.
From 1999-2001 — then referred to as The Mac’s — Shattuck-St. Mary’s received three straight of those heralded occasions. The varsity then received it once more in 2003 to cap an unbelievable run of 4 crowns captured over 5 years.
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“It’s been not less than a decade since we final performed on this event,” Ward mentioned. “We’ve at all times loved our time right here. The city helps it. We love this event. The youngsters get excited to come back out right here. It’s an enormous deal for our college and our program, so I’m completely happy that it’s nonetheless that approach, as a result of it must be that approach. And the youngsters are proud after they win it.
“We’ve been up right here to Calgary to play within the sport-school problem earlier than and performed the Edge College, so it’s not like we haven’t been to Calgary. We simply haven’t been on this event — they only didn’t allow us to come for some time. So that they’ve been asking us to come back for the final couple of years, and we’re completely happy to come back again.”
Their prolonged absence was partially due to a push-back towards having 18-year-olds compete within the occasion, which has lengthy been a sticking level for tourney organizers.
For example, eight of their rostered gamers are turning 19 within the coming calendar yr, giving them a perceived leg up — age-wise — on many of the different groups collaborating on this tourney.
However this yr’s committee felt having Shattuck-St. Mary’s as one of many 32 competing for this yr’s title was within the occasion’s greatest curiosity.
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And it’s exhausting to argue towards that while you watch Ward’s wonders execute like they do.
Their sport is solely chic.
“We attempt to get the youngsters ready for the following stage and get them to play the best approach — play a 200-foot sport,” mentioned Ward, whose roster consists of as many as 10 youngsters already dedicated to play puck within the NCAA Division 1 ranks and the coach anticipating that each one ultimately transfer on to some stage of faculty hockey. “Taking part in an sincere model of hockey is one thing we attempt to preach to our children.”
It’s true … the varsity’s Hockey Middle of Excellence does boast fairly the popularity.
Its packages have counted 25 USA Hockey nationwide championships over time, together with 9 collected by the age-group coached by Ward and people fellow coaches earlier than him.
And the longer term seems good for this yr’s bunch — which has received most of its video games — as properly.
Right here at The Circle Okay, Ward felt that bus-legs threatened his squad in its first round-robin contest, however Shattuck-St. Mary’s nonetheless prevailed in 6-3 style over B.C. sport-school OHA Penticton.
Then got here a characteristic match towards Alberta’s hottest membership workforce — the Calgary Flames — in a 7-0 home-side stinker, after which Ward proclaimed his boys really feel like they’ve nonetheless “obtained extra within the tank.”
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And with that, they went out of their third and remaining round-robin take a look at and rolled over the Prince Albert Mintos 12-3 to safe a spot within the playoffs.
“It means rather a lot coming to this event and having the success we’re having,” Zellers mentioned. “We ready rather a lot earlier than this event, and it’s good to see it’s paying off.
“We practise very exhausting each week — by no means take a break day — in order that helps us rather a lot. All of us stay collectively within the dorms, too, which helps us rather a lot with chemistry on and off the ice.”
Ward likes this version of his crew, too.
“We’ve obtained a very good group,” he added. “I actually like our children. They fight exhausting. They actually present up on daily basis to skate, practise and sweat.
“I like our probabilities. At our stage, I believe we’re nearly as good as anyone. I don’t know if we’re any higher. However we’ve obtained a very good workforce. We’re fortunate.”
LOOSE PUCKS
The one different program to sport 4 Mac’s/Circle Okay titles are the Buffaloes, who had been eradicated by the Phoenix Jr Coyotes in one other A-side quarterfinal late Saturday. That was a 5-3 affair … The opposite quarters noticed Edge College knock off defending two-time champion South Alberta Hockey Academy 6-1 and the Calgary Royals down the Northern Alberta Xtreme 4-1 to push two native groups into the ultimate 4 … That units the semifinals up for Sunday.
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