Olympiens embracing underdog status

For Cole Baker, a .500 record would’ve sufficed. Playing on the final weekend of the season was nothing less than a pipe dream.

Beginning Friday, the Jeanne-Sauvé Olympiens will take part in the sprint for the AAAA high school provincial boys’ hockey championships for just the third time in the program’s history, and that is owed to an inspiring season that has exceeded everyone’s expectations.

“As a team, we have a lot to be proud of, and I think we deserve it, and I think we have a lot to show still,” said captain Baker.

You see, Les Olympiens had designs on remaining in the second tier of the Winnipeg High School Hockey League, where they’ve played since 2019.

Instead, they were promoted to the top division for the first time in six years. That news was received with mixed feelings by third-year head coach Dominic Courcelles, who believed his team was certainly good enough to win it all in the lower tier but now needed to prepare his squad to run an entirely different gauntlet.

Despite stepping up in class, Jeanne-Sauvé went 14-7-3 in league play and 29-12-3 overall during the regular season to reach the WHSHL quarterfinals.

It was good enough to be named a wild card selection for provincials, and this weekend will mark the first time since 2015 that CJS will play in the tournament, with the only other occasion coming in 2011.

“I definitely was not expecting us to perform that well. Honestly, when we got promoted, I thought we would be towards the bottom,” Courcelles confessed. “But, you know what? Our guys just reached a different level. We had a lot of returnees who were just tremendous. They worked so hard and, by the end of the year, we were just as good as any of the top teams.”

The fifth-place finish was an especially remarkable outcome, considering CJS finished last in the second-tier division just two seasons ago. Not only did the group prove something to themselves, but it’s inspired Courcelles to keep his program in the top division for years to come.

“Definitely, it was a big step up, but I will say, I think we got some good guys, and we were good as a team,” said Baker. “We made it work. We had a goal as a team to go above .500, and we did that, so I think I’m very impressed with how we did it. I think we worked well with the competition, and we were able to adapt.”

The road only gets more challenging for this Cinderella story. The Olympiens are pooled with the Steinbach Sabres — who defeated CJS in the WHSHL quarterfinals — and the reigning provincial champion Vincent Massey Trojans.

They are relishing the underdog label, though.

“The message is that we can win this thing,” said Courcelles. “You look at the past couple of years, wild-card teams have won provincial championships, and we’ve beaten some of the top teams in this league, whether that be playoffs, whether it be regular season. We know we can compete at this level. Even though we’re probably the lowest-ranked team here, we know that if we’re playing well and we get a little bit of luck on our side, there’s no reason why we can’t win.”

Case in point: CJS defeated the eventual WHSHL champion Oak Park Raiders 6-5 in the regular season. The Raiders are pooled with Sturgeon Heights and Morden in Pool A.

“Once the playoffs start, power rankings and the standings kind of go out the window for us,” said Trojans head coach Ben Kirton. “It’s a new season, and everybody kind of elevates their play in playoffs.

“Even with the amount of Game 3s and the upset that happened in the Winnipeg High School Hockey League, it just shows you that it’s anybody’s game. It’s not going to be easy, it’s something you got to work for, and teams aren’t just going to let you roll on by.”

Kirton and the Trojans aren’t looking too far ahead, but there’s no doubt that they would like to see the Raiders in the provincial final to rehash their business from a competitive city championship series.

“I said it pretty early on in the room after we lost: ‘Remember this feeling, because it can be very useful and a good motivational tool for (this) weekend,’” Kirton said.

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