Covering the Peewee A provincials this weekend brought back some memories from my minor hockey days. I have distinct memories of each of my four trips to provincials (one in Alberta, three in Nova Scotia), and I'm sure the kids who participated in the weekend's Peewee A provincials made some of their own as well. None of my memories include winning a gold medal, but I learned a lot about the game—and life.
Covering the Peewee A provincials this weekend brought back some memories from my minor hockey days. I have distinct memories of each of my four trips to provincials (one in Alberta, three in Nova Scotia), and I’ m sure the kids who participated in the weekend’ s Peewee A provincials made some of their own as well. None of my memories include winning a gold medal, but I learned a lot about the game-and life.
At my first ever provincials (Atom B in Taber, Alberta), I learned that no matter how good you think you are, there’ s always someone better. I was playing in Lacombe at the time, and we thought we were unstoppable. We breezed through the regular season and playoffs, and thought provincials were going to be the same. We were in for a rude awakening.
Our first game was against Bonnyville. We should’ ve looked them up before we hit the ice. They beat us 18-2... the worst loss I had through all of minor hockey. At the time it felt like the world was ending, but I’ m glad it happened - it was an important lesson to learn.
My second provincials experience was in Musquoduboit, Nova Scotia, playing for the Cole Harbour Atom AA team. We won a bronze medal, but it might have been gold or silver if we hadn’ t underestimated the host team. They were in our league, and they hadn’ t beaten us once all year... they wouldn’ t have even been at provincials if they weren’ t hosting. We played them in the semifinals, thinking we couldn’ t lose. We thought wrong. They beat us 3-1, and then went on to win the gold medal. Not bad for the team we thought had no chance.
The third time was almost a charm. Before the round robin was even done at the Peewee AA provincials in West Hants, the two teams going to the final were already decided - it was us against the host. We still had to play them once before the championship game, and we decided to treat the first matchup as a warm-up - go easy on them, then surprise them in the final. The plan backfired magnificently. They beat us 4-3, then carried that momentum over to the final, beating us 3-1. I learned that mind games will get you nowhere.
My final provincial hockey tournament is when I learned that you have to embrace pressure. It was the Midget AAA tournament in East Hants, Nova Scotia, and there was a lot on the line. The winner got to move on to Atlantics in Newfoundland. Our final round robin game was a do-or-die against the host East Hants Penguins. They were in our league, and you couldn’ t ask for two more evenly matched teams. Their arena was packed to the rafters, and very loud - I’ d never seen anything like it in any game I’ d played. We got down a goal and the rink got louder, then things started to go downhill. Every time they scored, there was more noise, until it was all I could focus on. We lost that game 7-1 and were knocked out of contention.
Hopefully, the kids at the Peewee A provincials learned some lessons of their own over the weekend. In all likelihood, they’ ll learn them in hindsight, but that’ s where some of the best lessons come from anyway.
