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Good luck, Blades! Success not measured in wins and losses
Chris Clegg
for South Peace News
The High Prairie Peewee Blades coaching staff took a little different approach to the season this year.
Rather than wins and losses, the focus was on making each player on the team better as they continue their minor hockey careers.
“We talked to the kids at the start of the year and their parents,” says head coach Bob Calhoon. “The goal was not on wins and losses. We were not going to judge success on wins and losses. We wanted them to play at a higher level and progress as the season wore on.”
The first step was to challenge the players and jump a higher level and compete in the All Peace Minor Hockey League’s Peewee Tier 1 Division. The Blades certainly did not embarrass themselves by posting a 4-8-2 record and clearly got better during the season.
Calhoon is very pleased with the progress the team has made.
“The kids have bought into the system,” says Calhoon. “We told them if they want to be better they would have to work away from the rink and eat better.”
He credits assistant coaches Jason Tress and Kody Calhoon for playing huge roles in dryland training.
“We do dryland training two nights a week and the kids are doing some on their own,” he says.
The physical conditioning has led to a more positive attitude on the ice, says Calhoon.
“The kids work extremely hard,” says Calhoon. “But we are a very small team and we’re low in numbers as well. We’ll be down to two lines (at Provincials).”
He adds they are also a very small team.
“But they play bigger than they are,” says Calhoon. “They work hard.”
In Provincial playoffs, the Blades destroyed Grande Prairie 25-0 in the first round and were awarded the two-game total goal series based on the 10-goal rule. The win punched their ticket to the dance in Fairview, who hosts the tournament. Nonetheless, the teams did play the first game of the zone final, which Fairview won 7-2. The Blades will not play Fairview at Provincials unless they meet in the playoffs which both teams hope will happen.
In league playoffs, the Blades lost to Grande Prairie 5-2 and 7-5.
And on March 6-7, the Blades won three straight games and a tournament title in Bonnyville after defeating the Edmonton Whitemud West Eagles 6-2, Sherwood Park 10-2 and the hometown Bonnyville Pontiacs 3-2.
The Blades will be without the services of two players at Provincials. Luke Bellerose is on a hockey trip to Europe while Larkin Stokes has a broken collar bone.
Win or lose, Calhoon deems the season a success.
“Our goal at the start of the season was not to win Provincials,” he says. “We were going to use this as a growing step, a learning process to make them better players and to be able to compete at a higher level.”
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