It was a provincial championship over 20 years in the making.
The Cabri Bulldogs brought home the Hockey Saskatchewan U15 C Provincial Championship last weekend.
"The last one hanging up there is from 2003-04," said Bulldogs Head Coach Wade Petersen. "It's been a lot of years since a provincial banner went up in Cabri. They're not easy to get, and that was our message to the kids. This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Some of you might not ever have a bigger game."
Petersen was impressed by their effort despite being a very young team.
"We're a first-year group almost entirely," he noted. "We have one second-year kid and going into Outlook, there we were playing almost entirely against a second-year group. Pretty big feat to accomplish that with a younger group at this age level."
After a 6-6 first game against Outlook, Cabri saved their best game for last in a 3-1 Game 2 victory.
"Everybody showed up," Petersen said. "They knew it was the biggest game of their life and they all showed up to play. We had three full lines playing against a team that had two lines. We could tell they were getting worn down. These kids played a full sixty minutes, and they got the results that they needed."
Petersen could see a lot of their players moving up to a higher level, but with so many first-year players, he expects the Bulldogs to compete again next season.