Rocky Mountain Raiders derailed in quest for Esso Cup at provincials
By Tyler Lowey, Times Reporter
Heartbreak consumed the dressing room following a devastating overtime loss in the midget AAA female provincial championship.
Six seconds away from their second provincial championship in three years, the Rocky Mountain Raiders allowed Madison Willan of the St. Albert Slash to score to force overtime.
In the extra frame, the Raiders enjoyed receiving two calls from the refs, but couldn’t cash in.
Langdon’s Emma Borbandy, one of the veterans on the Raiders, then got called for body checking at 10:40 mark of the extra frame, only to see McKenzie Hewett snipe her second goal of the game and steal the provincial title away from the top-ranked Raiders March 25 at Servus Arena.
“It was a very disappointing loss. We certainly had our chances, but to not come out of that with the win was a huge disappointment,” said Raiders Head Coach Paul Pozzi. “They left it all on the ice, the effort was there, it just wasn’t meant to be.”
The gut-wrenching loss ended a season that saw the Raiders capture another regular season title, their second Mac’s Midget AAA World Invitational Hockey tournament title in as many years, but halted a drive at what could have been their second trip to the Esso Cup in the past three years.
“We can take a lot of success from this season moving forward, but right now we are still stung by that overtime loss,” said Pozzi.
On the Raiders were the Borbandy sisters, Emma and Kaia, and local product Natalie Funk.
“Emma has been very solid for us for years now. She has a big shot and can score, she plays real tough minutes and is now one of 11 players moving onto play post-secondary hockey. She will be attending the University of New Brunswick in its first season with the program,” said Pozzi. “Kaia and Natalie both played impactful minutes for us this year, played strong at provincials and will be big for us next year as we try to rebuild this program.”
Kaia finished the regular season with five goals and five assists in 30 games, her older sister contributed one goal and seven assists in 26 games, and Funk supplied one goal and three assists in 28 games. Funk was the only one of the three to score at provincials.
Bantam program grows
for future
The future of the midget program didn’t achieve the final result that they desired, but still developed as a team and individually at the bantam elite provincials last weekend in Grande Prairie.
“The biggest thing for us this year, which we were in the second year after having our draw zone shrink, was to compete and see if we could come away with anything,” said Raiders Head Coach Dustin Borbandy. “We weren’t sure if we were going to make it to provincials, but we knocked out the second best team from Calgary in playoffs to get here, so that was big for us.”
The Raiders dropped their opening game March 22 to the Calgary Fire White 3-1 and lost to the Peace Country Bonnett’s Storm by an identical margin. They were able to dissect the St. Albert Raiders 3-2, but got blanked 3-0 by the North Central Impact in their consolation game March 24.
Armed with the youngest Borbandy hockey star, Abbey, the Raiders also were powered by local product Kaia Gron and Siksika Nation’s Sage Running Rabbit on their way to a 12-10-4 regular season record, finishing third in the Alberta Female Hockey League South division.
Abbey finished the season as the top scoring defenceman with three goals and eight points, while Gron sniped one goal and seven points, and Running Rabbit found the back of the net once in 26 games.
“Kaia and Abbey came in as leaders on this team despite not wearing a letter. They provided a strong game from the back end and really developed as the year went on,” said Dustin. “Sage came in with zero expectations as a first-year player in our program and really began to learn once she figured out the league. It was a big step for her going from minor hockey to the bantam elite level and she handled it well. We are looking forward to what she brings to the table next year.”