Joe McWilliams
Lakeside Leader
There are a lot of Slave Lake boys with brand new gold medals around their necks this week. The weekend saw at least four local teams winning league championships.
The U15 Thunder boys’ hockey team finished off a tough season with a Tier II league victory on Saturday, with wins over Camrose and Edson.
Saturday morning, they nipped Camrose 4 – 3 and that same evening they put an exclamation point on the season with a 6 – 0 thrashing of Edson.
The victory must have been especially sweet, given that both those teams finished well ahead of Slave Lake in the standings. That may have had a lot to do with the fact that the Tier II Thunder played so many Tier I teams during the regular season. But even at that, they were starting to play much better in the last month or so. Head coach Dwain Hill said as much in a conversation with The Leader back in February.
It was a close call in the Camrose game (both games were played in Athabasca). Trailing 3 – 1, “Jace Broadhead scored a huge goal to tie it,” says Hill. “Then Jonas Lillo scored a beauty in OT.”
Both goaltenders played well, Hill goes on to say. First Jerzie Green, against Camrose, and then Grady Beauchamp with the shutout vs. Edson.
The Thunder now advance to the Tier II provincials in Battle River, March 25 – 27.
U13
Two of Slave Lake’s three U13 teams won their league playoffs on the weekend. The #1 team beat Camrose 3 – 2 on Saturday to take the best of three series.
The U13 #2 team won all five of its playoff games in the round robin format, culminating with a 3 – 2 victory over Smoky Lake on Saturday. Nolan Beaupre got the winner in the third period, converting a pass from Carter Donaldson.
The U18 Thunder play this coming weekend in a consolation final against BRK2. They host Tier 4 provincials on the first weekend of April.
The U18 Female Thunder finished off its regular season with a 2- 1 victory over Grande Prairie on Saturday. Maddison Green and Tayla Warman got the Slave Lake goals. No word at this point on playoffs.
