They hosted it and they won it. The Lac La Biche Clippers midget boys team battled teams from across northern Alberta over the December 7 weekend to come away with the win at their first home-hosted tournament of the season.
Eight teams took part in the tournament, bridging three different leagues. The Clippers, in the Northeastern Alberta Hockey League faced off with teams from the All Peace League and the Edmonton Federation.
The Clippers went undefeated through the tournament, starting with a first game thumping of the St. Albert team 15-3, but coach Ali Fyith said the tournament wasn't a cake-walk.
"In the second game, we played Peace River and we were down 2-0, but came back to win 5-3," he said.
The third game that took them to the finals was a 5-1 victory over the Edmonton Federation's Northwest Zone. The Clippers faced High Prairie in the finals. It was a tight game, said Fyith, going all the way to overtime.
"We scored just 17 seconds into overtime to beat them 3-2," said Fyith, who was very pleased with his team's play, describing it as "gutsy and gritty" with "stellar goaltending from Andrew Rabik."
The third and fourth place battle of the tournament was just that, as the teams from Sherwood Park and Peace River racked up the penalty minutes in a game eventually won by Peace River. The game saw several game misconducts and more than 40 penalties dished out to each team.
Top of the board
The Clippers continued their winning ways on home ice, beating the Cold Lake Ice 10-5 at the Bold Center in their regular season game on Friday, Dec. 14. The Clippers are on top of the Tier 2 Midget standings of the Northeastern Alberta Hockey League with a 8-1-1 record, leading Marwayne by two points.
