The Bonnyville Bantam 1 Pontiacs may have been the underdogs, but in the end, they came out on top.
On Friday, March 9, the tier two team won the title of league champions, bringing home the bantam banner.
The Bantam Pontiacs were in third place when they defeated Lloydminster to claim second, and finally Elk Point for first in the league.
“We were kind of the underdogs. We had to take on the second place team, and we ended up beating them. We went on to beat the first place team too,” said Bantam Pontiac Evan Kaban.
Head coach Kent Murray was proud of the team’s communication and endless efforts both on and off the ice.
“I had a great bunch of kids. We had our trials and tribulations, but when they wanted to come out and play, no one could stop them,” he said about the team. “They kind of just helped each other along.”
As much as he would like to take credit for their success, Murray knows full well who earned the number one title.
“They did all of the work, us coaches, we were just there for the ride. They’re really the ones who deserve all of the credit,” expressed Murray.
How they managed to pull it off was by working together.
Murray explained, “They all had different ideas, but when they started firing on all cylinders, you could just see how they would rely on each other.”
Kaban agreed when the team put their mind to it, nothing could stop them.
“We had to play as a team. We couldn’t just do one-man shows, we had to communicate, and keep the good attitudes up.”
Throughout the whole game, there was one player they kept in mind.
Carter Marcoux, assistant captain, had been out due to injury.
During their final game as a team, Marcoux was waiting patiently in the hospital for the news of their triumph.
What he couldn’t have predicted was his entire team walking into his room, league banner in-hand, to celebrate their success.
“We left Elk Point at about 10:50 p.m. that night, and between all of the players and parents, there were probably 35 to 40 of us. We went to the hospital and the nurses were just fantastic,” Murray described.
For Kaban, it was a special moment.
Marcoux had spent most of the year playing on the team, but was injured late in the season.
“He had played the whole year with us. We thought it was sad that he couldn’t be with us for the final game,” expressed Kaban.
Murray said Marcoux had “proved to the team that he was a leader, and they wanted to show him some respect.”
It took Murray until mid-season to get the right blend of players on the ice, but once he did he said he could tell the team just “started to click.”
“I kept certain players together, and it just escalated from there. They knew where each other were going to be; they knew where they had to be. It really just went from there,” noted Murray.
The head coach described it as “improving all the way.”
“I was very happy with the boys this season. My assistant coaches did a fantastic job,” Murray expressed. “Even if we were to have lost, it would have been fine. But it was great to win. Overall, it was a very good year.”
