The Red Deer Vipers will be hoping history repeats itself at the Junior B provincials.
As Heritage Junior Hockey League (HJHL) finalists, Red Deer advanced to the provincials, April 4 to 7 in Wainwright, despite being swept in three games by the Okotoks Bisons.
It’s the same situation the Vipers found themselves in 2006 when they went on to win the provincial and Western Canadian championships.
“Anything is possible and the bonus for us is that the season still continues,” said Vipers head coach Stephen Pattison on losing out in the league final. “It would have been great to win this trophy, don’t get me wrong, but it’s just a little piece.
“Our team goal from the beginning of the year was to win the league, to win provincials, to win westerns. There’s still two left to go for us.”
The Vipers are nothing if not a resilient hockey team having pulled off an amazing comeback from a 3-0 deficit to defeat the rival Blackfalds Wranglers in the best-of-seven HJHL semifinals.
Pattison said they will need the same 60-minute effort to have a chance at hoisting the provincial trophy for a third time in franchise history.
“That’s what got us through Blackfalds, for four straight games we played 60 straight minutes and didn’t let up,” Pattison said. “It’s a five-game grind (at provincials) and you’ve got to be mentally tougher than the team you’re playing.
“You cannot have any letdowns because you’re playing the best teams in the province.”
The Vipers won’t scare the lights out of opponents with superstar offensive players; instead they rely on scoring-by-committee through the likes of Kolten Gillett, Jeff Kohut and Cole DeGraaf.
Red Deer, who also won the provincial gold medal in 2004, is a team lacking in experience with 10 rookies in the lineup. None more notable than starting goaltender Brenden Mandrusiak.
Cold Lake Ice
Subtlety just doesn’t suit the Cold Lake Ice.
Not comfortable with the idea of sneaking into the Junior B provincials, the Ice rolled through the provincial host Wainwright Bisons in five games to capture the North Eastern Alberta Jr. B Hockey League title (NEAJBHL).
“I told our boys we’re not the team that goes through the back-door,” said Ice head coach Neil Langridge. “If we’re going to provincials and spending all that money we’re definitely going in as champs and earning our way there and we did exactly that.”
Cold Lake’s third straight trip to the provincials as league champions was far from a shock. The Ice was the top team in the NEAJBHL with a 29-4-1 record, on the strength of a powerful offence that produced a league high 218 goals, 56 more than any other team.
Hometown hero Dallas Ansell, a former Jr. A player with the Bonnyville Pontiacs, obliterated opposition for the Ice. The 20-year-old produced a staggering 57 goals and 110 points in 34 games.
Ansell wasn’t alone in carrying the goal-scoring burden, as linemates Niko Bourget and Matt Laboucane finished second and third in league scoring with 66 and 64 points, respectively.
“As a line they were huge, the three of them together,” Langridge said. “Dallas, he’s got a work ethic like nobody else. He just decides that he’s going to outwork everybody and earn every inch of the ice.”
The team’s engine is their relentless physical puck-pursuit style on the ice.
“We pride ourselves on being a hard hitting, physical hockey team,” Langridge said. “The kind of team that out-hits the opponents, bring the pain and make their defencemen cough the puck up with that tough forecheck.”
The veteran laden Ice will be looking to make some noise at the 2013 provincials after failing to advance out of the playoff round in the past two years.
“We’re looking at it as the underdogs, that’s what I’m telling the boys,” Langridge said. “We don’t know the teams, but we’re going to stick to our game plan and that’s the way we’re going to run it.”
Grande Prairie Kings
The Grande Prairie Kings are looking to parlay an unprecedented season of success into a place on the throne of the Jr. B provincials.
Grande Prairie won its first league championship in 17 years, edging the North Peace Navigators in six-games to capture the elusive North West Junior Hockey League (NWJHL) title.
“It’s been a real ride here the last few weeks and everybody in our city has jumped on board with great support,” said Kings head coach and general manager Kyle Chapple. “It was pretty awesome to come through and win that first one.”
The trip to provincials will be the Kings’ first since they hosted the tournament in 2005 and the Kings aren’t satisfied with just being there.
“Expectations are to go there and win it,” Chapple said. “We always want to win the last game we play in and that’s the way we look at it.”
If numbers are any indication, the Kings have as good a chance as anyone to come out of Pool A and into the playoff round. Grande Prairie was far and away the best team in their league, posting a 32-3 record.
The Kings own considerable offensive riches as well reflected by their 257 goals this season. They are led by the top two scorers in the league in Nolan Trudeau and Lyndin Lewis, both of whom surpassed the 87-point plateau.
In goal, Sky Buller and Nolan Bowker have shared the load with the former earning most of the starts down the stretch.
“We’ve had success all season, we only lost three games in the playoffs, three games in the regular season,” Chapple said. “Any time we lace up the skates we want to go out there and win and that’s what were going to Wainwright to do.
“We believe we have a good chance of doing that.”
Wetaskiwin Icemen
The Wetaskiwin Icemen are hoping strength of competition all season long is the best antidote to inexperience at the provincial level.
The Icemen finished second to the Sherwood Park Knights in a stacked CJHL East division with a mark of 25-12-1.
Wetaskiwin came up short to the Knights in an epic final series that went the distance with Sherwood Park hoisting the trophy in the fifth game.
With a goal differential of just 25 goals through the regular season, the Icemen are adept at grinding out one-goal games which should serve the relatively inexperienced team well at provincials.
Offensively, Wetaskiwin makes up for a lack of star power with a balanced attack with eight players registering 20 points or more. DJ Bennefield, 21, is the top sniper with 29 goals, with Dylan Weaver being the team’s playmaker highlighted by his team-best 31 helpers.
In goal, Chris Sharkey carries the load as the 20-year-old started 25 of 38 games for Wetaskiwin, posting a goals against average of 3.77 and picking up 14 wins.
The Icemen will be looking for their first provincial banner in Wainwright and the 20th in Capital Junior Hockey League history, the most of any Jr. B league in Alberta.
