It was a stellar season for the U15 AA Eastman South Blizzard and the team capped it off by winning the Eastman League Championship.
"After winning Provincials last month, we went on a playoff run," Head Coach Nico Chiasson says proudly. "It was a new format this year, it was round-robin. We tied our first game, won our second game and it came down to a third game in the round-robin where it was lose and it's over or win and we're into the semi-finals. We came out and dominated, winning 8-3."
It wouldn't be the last time the Blizzard stared down playoff elimination only to fight back from the brink.
"Off the the semi-finals we go," explains Chiasson, "We battled the Southwest Jets. We lost game one, it was a tight game and with it being a best of three, our backs were up against the wall. The boys rallied back. All season, we played our best hockey when our backs were against the wall. We have a really resilient bunch. They kept believing in themselves and they came back in game two, played amazing in game three. It came down to the last minutes of that third game, we scored twice in the final five minutes of the game to punch our ticket to the finals."
A date with the Eastman Central Snipers awaited in the last series of the season for the Blizzard.
"Once again, lose a tight battle in game number one in the best of three final," Chiasson says with chuckle, reflecting on just how hard his team competed when their playoff lives were on the line. "Our offense finally woke up in game two in Landmark, we won 9-5. In the final game, it was perhaps our best game of the season, it took our whole team and it took the entire team effort to win 3-0 and cap off the season that way."
Chiasson says winning the championship is special but how the group did it, battling back from so many situations where they could have just accepted their fate and bowed out, that's what makes it truly memorable. "This team was amazing right from the start of the season. The leadership in this group was amazing. We faced elimination five times from the round-robin game, through the semi's and into the finals. These boys never gave up. It was so nice to see them get rewarded with a championship run and winning that final game."
Captain Jett Bueckert was the driver and played a key role in his teams success throughout the year, according to Chiasson. "It was so nice for Jett to get rewarded, he had the game winning goal in the semi-final game and then he got the game winning goal in game three to give us the championship. He's so humble, he's the hardest worker out there. He loves hockey and he loves being a great teammate."
Another standout player from that final game was goaltender Evan Maynard who stole the show. "Evan is someone, a player who is very, very competitive," Chiasson says complimenting his goalie. "He's always dialed in. To see him earn a 46-save shutout in the final, that's all a coach can dream of. He works so hard in practice, always working to get better with the goalie coach. He's really put the time in and improved a lot throughout the season."
The amount of hockey this year for the Blizzard is kind of unbelievable, but Chiasson says the support of the parents made it much easier and it meant the world to the team. "With league play, playoffs, provincials and tournaments, we played 53 games this season. I have to shoutout my coaching staff, those guys are always there, showing up game-in and game-out, they work hard to give our team an advantage. Our parent group and our managers were phenomenal. We had to plan to host provincials and they did such a great job with that."
The team photo with the banner will forever hold a special place in the heart of Chiasson and there's a neat story behind the team using eye-black throughout the playoffs. "The boys started that in provincials and we figured after we won, why change something if it's giving us a little bit of luck? It's a pretty cool thing they did there and it brought the group together."
"Maybe we'll join in as coaches if we're back behind the bench next year," Chiasson says with a big smile and a laugh.