The U13 A Estevan Bearcats managed to clinch the provincial title over the weekend as they took on the Martinsville Marauders. After losing the first game of the series, the Bearcats needed to win their second game on the weekend and win the 10-minute mini-game that would act as a tiebreaker.
Head Coach Wade Grimes says the team had quite the comeback to win the series.
"We were fortunate enough to get by them 4 four to three, which kind of initiated the mini game series, which was a 10-minute mini-game. It's not overtime, but we ended up playing that 10 minutes out, and with a minute left, we scored to actually take that game and then the provincial title. So it was very exciting."
Grimes says the team played well and worked hard for the victory.
"The girls were pretty relentless. They had the mindset that they were going to win, and there was kind of no other option. They've played extremely well, they defended well. They kept the body to the outside all the time. Our defensemen were just champs out there, forwards worked hard as well."
Goaltending also saw a standout performance, with Grimes saying it was an all-around great effort.
The team was able to get over that first loss thanks to a speech from Grimes during the playoff games.
"One of my last speeches in between the second game and the mini-game was, I basically said, 'Do you girls want to be the top team in Saskatchewan at the U13 A level?' and I think all of their eyes perked up and that was it."
Grimes will hope to field another competitive team next year, though a few of the girls will be moving onto the U15 league.
"That's why this is kind of so special, because you never know when you're going to get one of these championships, especially on home ice like that it happened to work out quite well for us, obviously."
Grimes says he saw plenty of effort right from the start of the year to the end that led to that title.