Coach Ian MacGillivray hopes handball will catch on in the area after the Mallaig School Tier II boys came home with the Alberta Schools Athletic Association provincial championship.
The Mallaig Stingers entered the tournament without playing a single game in the regular season, as no other handball teams competed in the St. Paul Athletic Association.
The Stingers advanced unchallenged to the zone championship against Vermilion, winning two straight victories in a best of three. Two weeks later, with only two games and two wins under its belt, the Stingers headed to provincials in Red Deer.
Mallaig students teamed up with Colton Witwicky from Glendon School to form the school’s first handball team.
MacGillivray had never coached or played handball before. He went to a coaches clinic in February to learn the game. The assistant principal credited the team’s ability to learn the game quickly for the championship.
“For us, it’s a new sport so we didn’t know what to expect,” he said.
The Stingers arrived April 28 for a banquet and to watch the youth 18 and 20 teams compete. Watching the teams compete showed the Stingers new techniques they had not used, said MacGillivray. “It gave us a better idea of the game, and my players actually caught on to that very quickly. They became more assertive in the defence.”
The team’s outstanding defence became one of the keys for the team’s victories, he added.
The Mallaig Stingers started the round robin against Central High from Sedgewick and won 23-20 in a very close game. Central High maintained a lead by half time, and later tied the game with three minutes left before the Stingers stung its opponents with three goals for the win.
The Stingers played Calgary Academy in the next round robin and dominated 24-8. MacGillivray said he was surprised by the outcome as the Academy team had won a medal last year.
The Stingers advanced as first in its pool to play the semi-final against last year’s champions from Bentley. With a close score at the halfway point, by the end, Mallaig won 23-13.
“I think we were a little more fit than them,” said MacGillivray explaining the half time turnaround. The undefeated Stingers also stepped up its defence to shut down their offence, he said.
MacGillivray said his team is excited about next season. With most of the players also in either basketball or hockey, the team had to schedule around other sports schedules this year, making April the main month for practising before the competition.
In the final, Mallaig faced Central High again. Central High took the lead 8-7 by the half, but the Stingers stepped it up to win 20-13. The Stingers’ fitness and speed contributed to the championship win, he said.
Goalie Nigel Krochmal broke his wrist during the game, but decided to finish the game, he said. Another player broke a finger blocking a shot.
MacGillivray said Krochmal played an exceptional game and “blocked everything.”
“Allowing only 13 goals is a very low number of goals.”
Jordon Hebert and Witwicky were the top goal scorers of the tournament.
Handball is played in two 25 minute periods with seven players per team on field. Handball is a very physical game, he said. If a player is in front, he can grab another player, but hitting the ball from someone’s hand or grabbing someone’s arm in the act of shooting is prohibited. A defensive zone surrounds the goalie. Like hockey, a stoppage of play is not needed to sub a player in.
The goal is a rectangle three metres wide and two metres high and is surrounded by a crease with a radius of six metres. The ball is smaller than a basketball or soccer ball.
“It’s a very fast game,” he said, adding that a player can only hold the ball for three seconds.
This year’s championship marked the second ASAA handball provincials. The ASAA will decide the future of the sport in May. MacGillivray hopes other schools in the area will form teams next year.
Matthieu Vallee and Chad Michaud from the team have been asked to attend a youth 16 training camp for the Alberta handball team.
