Photo Courtesy: Krystene Pickett
In what could potentially be their last tournament of the season, the Strathmore Storm U13C team won it all in front of the home crowd at their home tournament last weekend! In a close gold medal match, the Storm pulled ahead in the closing minutes of the third period to earn an exciting 4-3 win.
Nicole Hart's son Hunter Hart is one of the players on the team, and Nicole said it was a wonderful moment for the team and the home crowd that was cheering them on.
"The kids knew they'd been playing well over the weekend and I think they just kept playing together. They pulled it off so they were pretty excited," she said.
The team playing together was a huge part of the win. Like many sports, the Storm's success wasn't because of a select few players. Hart explained the scoring throughout the tournament was spread across the whole team, and that this tournament was the culmination of a season's worth of building friendships in the team.
"A lot of them had not played together before, so when they got together this year, I think they started to get to know each other and they've become friends, it just really came together. They've really improved and they've got a pretty good coaching staff, so it went really well."
The gold medal win was especially satisfying for the team, as Hart said it took them a while to start playing well and earning wins, so it was a lot of losing and learning before finally breaking through at this tournament.
"They went to another tournament and they got the silver medal earlier in the year so they knew that feeling of getting into that big game and not getting it in the end, not getting gold. So I think that was really exciting for them."
The atmosphere for the team was made even more exciting due to the big home crowd. Aside from the usual crowd of supportive parents and family, other Strathmore teams that were in the tournament also cheered on the U13C team as they battled for gold.
The season will soon be coming to an end, as the regular season wraps up in February which is followed by the playoffs. Depending on where the Storm rank and how the playoffs go, it's possible this will be the last tournament of the season. Regardless of what the rest of the year holds, the Storm can be happy with their impressive win last weekend.
Send your news tips, story ideas, pictures, and videos to news@strathmorenow.com