KAMSACK - We, the U13 Parkland Predators, played the Wynyard Monarchs in the first round of provincials. We played well and won Game 1 in Kamsack 11-5 on Feb 7. After a shaky start we came back and dominated the second Game 15-5 in Wynyard Feb. 15.
In the second round we came up against the Moosomin Rangers. Our first game was Feb. 21 in Kamsack. Despite having double the number of shots of our opponent, we came out on the losing end 6-2, including an empty net goal.
Goal scorers for the Predators Bryden Leis of Kamsack, unassisted, and Braxton Fifield of Churchbridge, assisted by Milo Hainstock from Langenburg.
The return game in Moosomin on March 1 was a must win game with the modified best-of-three playoff system for provincials. Despite having lots of good scoring chances in the third period, pulling our goalie for the last minute-and-a-half and putting on lots of scoring pressure, we could not get the go ahead goal and the game ended up in a 3-3 tie. This ended our provincial playoff run.
Game 2 goal scorers for the Preds were Braxton Fifield with two, and Milo Hainstock added a single. Landon Erickson of Preeceville chipped in with a pair of assists.
This is a team that came together during this winter with players from communities from all over the Parkland area (Preeceville, Kamsack, Canora, Churchbridge and Langenburg). We quickly became a tight-knit team that played together well and created what will likely be lasting lifetime friendships between both players and families involved with the team.
We had somewhat of a full season as just a "Provincial" team. Despite not quite attaining the goal of winning the provincial playoffs, we ended up playing 12 games between a tournament, exhibition and provincial games, as well as 11 practices together.
Hopefully in the future these players will get the opportunity to play together again, and competitive provincial teams like this will happen more frequently in our area to give our rural minor hockey kids the opportunity to play a higher caliber of competitive hockey in our Parkland area home towns.
Thank you to all of our local business sponsors throughout the season that helped make this team possible.
A big thank you goes to our coaching staff for the time and passion they put in to have coaching opportunity at a high level for the kids on this team. All five coaches were key contributors to helping each of these players grow their game. And the biggest thank you goes to our manager Amanda Hunter for the time, hard work and professionalism in organizing this team.
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