Raiders looking to even the score

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This article was published 06/03/2024 (759 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Sweet revenge will be top of mind when six high school hockey programs vie for provincial glory.

The Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association AAAA boys championship begins Friday and wraps up Monday at Seven Oaks Arena.

Four schools from the Winnipeg High School Hockey League — St. Paul’s, Westwood, Oak Park and Vincent Massey — and two out-of-town squads — Morden (Zone IV) and Neepawa (Westman) — will participate.

Some still have the taste of defeat lingering after league play.

Take the No. 3 Oak Park Raiders, who entered the WHSHL playoffs with high hopes after posting an 18-6 regular-season record but were swept 2-0 by the Vincent Massey Trojans in their first playoff series.

“We’re seeing red,” said Raiders forward Wilton Mullally, who came in at No. 7 on a recent coaches poll of top 10 varsity boys players in the province. “We’re definitely going into this with the mindset that we want to win this and we want to get revenge on the teams like (Vincent) Massey and St. Paul’s.

“We really want to beat those teams and take it to them.”

The Raiders, who beat the River East Kodiaks 5-4 in an elimination game to qualify as a wil dcard, will play in their first provincial championship since 2016. Head coach Ian MacDonald believes his young squad — which ices just five Grade 12 players — has a lot to prove.

“The playoffs were one bad week at the end of a fantastic season,” MacDonald said. “We reset after, took a week off and we got back to practising. Since we’ve reset, the hunger is there, the desire is there, the drive is there and the guys, they want this a lot.

“It’s going to be fun and bonus hockey for us.”

Oak Park is pooled with the Westwood Warriors and the Zone IV High School Hockey League champion Morden Thunder for Friday’s round robin.

St. Paul’s enters the week as perhaps the biggest target as the No. 1 seed and seeking its second provincial title in three years. The Crusaders enjoyed another fruitful season, going 20-4 during the regular season before skating away with its second city crown in three seasons.

Grade 12 forward Sam Monin said the Crusaders have taken each game in stride.

“Our team, we embrace the pressure and we have all season. We’re almost hated by the league because we’ve won so many times. Teams will play harder against us, they’ll try harder, hit us harder, but that just means we have to prevail them much more so,” said Monin, whose 34 points in 31 contests is the second most on St. Paul’s this season.

“I think citys is a good feather in our cap but I think provincials, we’ll have to up our game a little bit and the pressure will be doubled of course.”

St. Paul’s is pooled with the Trojans, who beat Sturgeon Heights 2-1 to qualify as a wild card, and Neepawa Tigers, who qualified as the top AAA/AAAA Westman team at the end of the regular season.

The Crusaders’ city championship came at the expense of the Warriors, who need no reminding of their recent record against the powerhouse program.

The two squads have been in some high-stakes matchups over the last few seasons, including the 2022 provincial championship, but St. Paul’s have prevailed in five straight contests.

It figures to be another spirited bout should they meet again.

“They’re definitely our main target to try and take down and get some revenge,” said Warriors’ defenceman Cole Warsaba, who was No. 8 in the coaches poll of top 10 varsity players.

“We’re in a pretty good mindset. Our goal was to make it to the finals and we got that goal and we played some of our best hockey throughout the playoffs, so we were all feeling good about our game.”

joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca

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