‘Champions are forever’

Windsor Park

The Béliveau Barracudas girls’ hockey team has created its own little piece of history.

The team recently won the Manitoba Women’s High School Hockey League’s Division 3 title, beating the St. John’s-Ravenscourt Eagles two games to none in the best-of-three final — winning 5-1 at SJR’s Dutton Arena on March 16, and 5-3 at Southdale Community Centre’s east rink on March 17.

It’s the first time the Windsor Park-based team has won an MWHSHL divisional title.

“It’s fantastic,” said Braedan King, the team’s head coach. “The girls worked so hard, right from training camp.”

King explained that he and teacher liaison/team manager Jennifer de Rocquigny came on board three years ago, and how everyone involved has worked hard and pulled together since then to help make the recent championship title a reality.

“When I started three years ago, the team was almost going under. There was a mass exodus of players, lots of players were leaving, and some ringette players were joining the team,” King said.

Working with a relatively young team this season — eight Grade 9s, five Grade 10s, six Grade 11s and three Grade 12s — King said the team’s talent and attitude from the get-go has been huge.

He said a big strength of the team this season has been its defensive steel, not least the performances of its star goaltender Leah Robinson.

“I’m a big stats guy, and we’ve had the best goaltender in the division this year,” King said.

He added the defence was a young unit, which performed admirably, and was helped by the team’s senior players.

“This team has no egos, it scores goals, and it definitely knows how to defend, as well. On this team, things are definitely done by committee. Everything we did, we worked hard at together,” King said, noting the Barracudas finished fourth in the regular-season standings, winning 13 of their 24 games and “struggling a little bit to score goals.”

Centre May McCusker, who finished the tournament as the playoff MVP, was thrilled by the achievements of the team.

“It feels so awesome,” said McCusker, who is in Grade 10. “We worked so hard this year, and I’m so proud at how far we’ve come.”

McCusker thinks part of the team’s success was the feeling of togetherness that became more solidified as the season progressed, as well as the contribution of the coaches.

“It was a great group of girls, and as the season went on, we became closer. The coaches also put a lot of effort into the team,” McCusker said. “It’s been a really great season, and I’m proud of our achievements.”

Centre Acadia Flockton is thankful for the team’s crowning achievement this year, not least because of the hard work of the players to gel.

“I feel very happy and grateful we went this far. It’s very exciting to win this for the first time,” said Flockton, 17, who is in Grade 11.

“It started to come together as the season went on. At the start, there was both new and returning girls, and we needed time to adjust and gel,” Flockton said, noting that December was good month for the team.

Robinson, a 16-year-old Grade 11 student who has been with the team since Grade 9, said she had a good feeling about this year’s crop of players when the season started.

“We have a really good group of players, and we used every player on the team,” she said.

Being a goaltender, and the bedrock of the team, can have its challenges, Robinson said, but she thrives on the pressure.

“I think it’s a high-stress position… and sometimes it’s not always fun, but its rewarding,” Robinson said.

“I’ve been playing goalie since I was four, and it’s really different than the other positions, but still very rewarding. There’s a trust with the other players.”

“You have to have chemistry with the defence, which is very important, and I need to know where my defence is going to be. At the start of the year, it can be harder, as you don’t know some of the players, but hopefully we can keep the momentum going next season,” she added.

Liaison/team manager de Rocquigny, along with King, went all-in when they became involved with the Barracudas three years ago, visiting Béliveau’s feeder schools and promoting girls’ hockey.

“Being able to meet with my coaches over the summer … I knew we had something special,” de Rocquigny said, noting a key psychological factor in the team’s success – “we never gave the girls the impression they couldn’t do it.”

When it comes to this particular group of players leaving their mark and helping create a legacy at the school, King simply has three words — “champions are forever.”

Also on the coaching staff this year were assistant coaches Evan Rogers and Will Duffin.