The Red Army is wrapping up its season this weekend, as they're one of 270 teams of different age groups participating in the Alberta Native Hockey Provincials in Edmonton. The Red Army won the banner last year, and is hoping to defend their title, and head coach Cory Cardinal liked the team's chances going into Edmonton.
The Kikino Red Army Midget hockey team has been on an impressive victory march this season. After winning the league championship in March, the team, along with a few added players from around the region, travelled to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan for a tournament, where they ran the table and came home with yet another championship.
The Red Army is wrapping up its season this weekend, as they’ re one of 270 teams of different age groups participating in the Alberta Native Hockey Provincials in Edmonton. The Red Army won the banner last year, and is hoping to defend their title, and head coach Cory Cardinal liked the team’ s chances going into Edmonton.
“They’ re looking to defend the title,” he said, adding that the core of last year’ s winning team is still playing for the Red Army this year. “I think the chances are pretty good. We have lots of third years - a lot of that team came back.”
One thing Cardinal isn’ t worried about is fatigue. It’ s been a long and intense season for the team, which included lots of travel, but he doesn’ t think the team will run out of gas this close to their goal. He said team members have been enrolled in a summer hockey program to train in the off-season, and for the most part they skate year-round.
“They’ re in the best hockey shape that they could be in,” he said. “That one of the big things I see as a benefit to this hockey team. They’ re a little slow getting started in the first and second periods, but come the third period I’ ve never seen a team that could skate like these boys. It’ s unreal.”
The future is looking bright for the club, as many of the younger players will be moving into leadership roles on the roster next year after some of the older players move on. Cardinal said he is impressed with what he saw from his young players this season.
“Our rookies, oh man, did they ever contribute quite a bit to this team. For younger players, they stepped up,” he said, adding that he hopes the rookies gain valuable experience at the Provincials to prepare them for leadership roles. “We’ re hoping they learn from this year, and then they take over the leadership roles next year.”
Any successful team in any sport spends a lot of time together, often times more than just the time they spend practicing and playing together, and the Red Army is no different in that respect. During the season, even when the team wasn’ t playing or practicing, they made time to get together for team-building exercises to promote team unity. Cardinal said it was a key to their success this season.
“They did everything as a team, and I think that helped them out in the long run,” he said. “We just tried to get the team atmosphere out there for them and it seemed to work out pretty good for them.”
Check the POST’ s Facebook page for updates on the Red Army’ s continuing march at the Native Provincials.
