Another championship is set to be hung at the HyLife Centre in La Broquerie as the U13A team won their final game of the year to bring home special memories along with a banner.
"It's very exciting, what a great accomplishment," Head Coach Gerard Tetrault said proudly. "We knew coming into the season that we had a great team, great potential, very young but a lot of talent on top of heart and soul. We knew good things could happen but we were hoping to be there at the end. Things lined up perfectly for us to achieve the ultimate objective, which was to bring home the banner."
Seeing the players, many that have spent years together, celebrating that win meant the world to Tetrault. "Yeah, nothing better than to see people reaching their ultimate objective for the season. We go back, yes, they're young, just 11 or 12, but going back to the start, we mapped out what the objectives were. There were a lot of hills and valleys, ups and downs, things to overcome and I'd be lying if I said we didn't have down times during the season. Ultimately, they came together as a team. That's what's great about kids, they can overcome things together as a team. Whether it was the top scorer or the guy laying down to block a shot, everyone has a role to play. It's important to know what your role is and everybody wins together and celebrates together."
Tetrault has been with this group for a long time now, so getting the job done was historic, according to the veteran coach. "In our history, La Broqueire has a great minor hockey system in numbers. We've been around for 75 years, we celebrated that last year but what it does in a hockey crazy community, we have lots of numbers, but I believe it is the first time a minor hockey team has won an 'A' championship in the league since Eastman brought in all the towns into one group. It's a great accomplishment for La Broquerie minor hockey. To see these kids come together from Timbits and go through it all together, push each other and reach the ultimate objective which is winning, just brings you a lot of joy. They put in a lot of hard work and effort throughout the year, especially those dog days in November and December, to see them take it home is special."
The U13 age group is unique to coach from a development standpoint, says Tetrault, "It's an "aha" moment," he says with a smile. "It doesn't matter how good of a coach you are or the tactics you use, it's about the players learning how to use those tools in a game setting. You can practice it, you can repeat it 150 times, but until that player figures it out, the strategy and hockey IQ are all very important and finding that next step. I think we flourished. Another advantage we had over other communities was that we only had two lines, one over two lines. Everyone has to play a role. Everyone had to play a role on the power play, whether you were the most skilled or the one that has a lot more advancement to make, you're a part of it. You're going to get opportunities. It's about working with kids from both ends of that spectrum."
Having amazing support around the team also made it pretty special. "What a fantastic parent group," Tetrault says proudly. "It's not just parents, it's grandparents that are coming out to games, it's phenomenal whether we're home or away. What else is special is playing in La Broquerie and having the whole hockey community back us up and be there for us in our championship game vs Ste. Anne. We packed the rink for a U13 game and the kids really appreciated it."
As for the future, Tetrault let it be known that this group may never be together again. "One advantage or disadvantage is Eastman has the AA league. We had a lot of young players, so we'll end up seeing some on the AA team, so it's really going to break up the core group. Hopefully, if I'm still around and my child is still playing community hockey, then I'll be all in as head coach and continue on the journey. But this is one of the last years of minor hockey that this group is going to be together based on the things that Eastman hockey has to offer. When we as coaches were talking to the team, we really wanted to share that with them, we told them they may be young, but this may be the only time we're all together again. We would take moments to acknowledge the friendship and team aspect. We got the kids together in the middle, they did a little chant or a little hugging session with the music playing, it was all really special."
"Couldn't have ended on a better note," Tetrault says with a smile. "What a way to end it."