Dave Leaderhouse
Special to the Herald
Perfection!
The Prince Albert Venice House Pirates completed a perfect run through the Saskatchewan Male Hockey League’s U15AA playoffs on Thursday when they routed the Engelheim Prairie Storm 8-2 before a large and boisterous crowd at the Lake Country Co-op Leisure Centre.
The win completed a sweep in the best-of-three championship final and in fact was the fourth straight series in which they never suffered a defeat. Head coach Tyson Dallman says that the ending was a reward for a team that always believed in themselves.
“This is awesome,” shouted Dallman over a loud ovation while the players were being presented the championship trophy and banner. “Just look how excited they are!”
“We got a lot of guys together at the start of the season and just to see them all come together – wow,” added Dallman. “It’s a lot of guys giving themselves up; individual success comes from team success.”
Thursday’s game was never really in doubt, but despite the lopsided score it was the play of Pirates’ netminder Liam Bergen that stole the show. Bergen stopped all 18 shots he faced in the opening period and he followed that up with 13 more in the middle frame. Even with the game out of reach Bergen continued to stand tall finishing the game with 43 saves in total.
For the second straight game it was Jordan Labelle who was the offensive catalyst as the smooth-skating forward netted three goals and set up two others. Labelle also had a hat-trick in the series-opening 5-3 decision in Balgonie on Sunday.
Beckett Casavant also had a big game scoring twice and adding a pair of assists with Kaden Kohle banging in two more and Pryce Schrader completing the onslaught. Caleb Philp, the team’s leading scorer in the regular season, pitched in with three helpers.
Garett Stephen had both goals for the Storm, who did everything they could to try and beat Bergen, including playing most of the final four minutes with the goaltender pulled in favor of an extra attacker, but the Pirates were not to be denied.
The Pirates’ championship is the second provincial title by a Prince Albert team this week as last weekend the Family Pizza Foxes brought home the Saskatchewan Female Hockey League’s U13AA banner following a sweep of the Regina Rebels White.
