If there was a moment to sum up the Steinbach Huskies season, it came in the final moments of the Hanover-Tache Junior Hockey League (HTJHL) championship series. Up big over the Red River Mudbugs and heading for a finals sweep, the players were frustrated on the bench. Frustrated they had allowed the Mudbugs to score a third goal while en-route to a 9-3 victory.

“That’s just what our group was like this year,” Steinbach coach Benjamin Plett said after the game.

“They never wanted to get scored on, they never wanted to have teams even have a chance in games. We wanted to dominate every single night and that’s what we did again tonight.”

The Huskies, playing their final season inside the Centennial Arena before the Southeast Event Centre is built, won the championship on the road in St Jean, defeating the Mudbugs convincingly in game four March 21. Steinbach outscored Red River 26-9 in the series, and cruised to victory after a tight one-goal win in game one.

The Huskies only lost three games this season, and only one in the playoffs after earning a first round bye and defeating Niverville 4-1 in the semi-finals.

“We’re so deep, we had no weak players, everybody had so much heart all season, so much dedication all season,” Plett said.

“We would beat teams big and guys would come back to the rink wanting to beat them more. It was a relentless group of guys, all 20 of them.”

In game four, Steinbach took advantage of a undermanned Mudbugs team. Head coach Bill Dowswell was forced to dress three affiliated players in the decisive game due to injuries up and down his lineup, including two on defense against a dangerous Huskies attack.

Ian Friesen was named the HTJHL’s most valuable player in the playoffs, scoring multiple points in eight out of the ten games Steinbach played this post-season.

“Simple hockey, that’s basically all I had to look after,” Friesen said on his mindset during the playoffs, while team-mates serenaded him with MVP chants.

“Chill mind, simple hockey, and listening to the coaches.”

The Huskies’ star forward and captain, Brandon Thiessen, was unable to play during the team’s semi-final series against Niverville, but provided a big boost alongside fellow returnee Ethan Plett in the finals. Ethan scored a second period natural hat trick in the clinching game.

“They wanted it so bad, and they wanted to send a message that we were number one, and that’s what we did,” coach Plett said.

The rest of the HTJHL may have to face another year of Steinbach dominance, as only six players are aging out of the Huskies roster. None of those six come from the team’s top two forward lines.

“This was by far the best team I’ve been around,” Plett, who has been with the Steinbach HTJHL team for nine years, said.

“They just brought it every night, it was such a pleasure to work with these guys all season.”

The Steinbach Pistons will now seek to make it two-for-two in junior championships for teams playing out of the T.G. Smith Centre’s final year. Their series against the Portage Terriers kicked off March 24.