Raiders win bronze!

Mario Prusina
Times Editor

 

The Rocky Mountain Raiders, featuring over half a dozen local players, claimed a bronze medal at the national championship in Weyburn, Sask. April 17-23.
The Okotoks-based triple-A midget female hockey team went 3-1 during the round robin portion of the 2016 Esso Cup, en route to the franchise’s first-ever bronze medal.
Strathmore natives Libby Wheeler, Hailey McCallum and Paige Russell played a big part of the team; as did Erin Fargey and Emma Borbandy of Langdon. Kate Lloyd and Kennedy Moore of nearby Chestermere are also members of the provincial championship team.
“We’re obviously happy with the bronze medal,” said head coach Paul Pozzi. “We certainly came very close in the semifinal to moving on to the gold medal game but we certainly had our chances but I guess it wasn’t meant to be. But the girls performed amazingly. They worked so hard and even after that loss in the semifinals it’s easy to just sort of not show up for that bronze medal game, but just like they have all year, they just bounced back and played a great game for the bronze medal and won it very convincingly.”
According to Pozzi, the girls really started clicking after the Christmas break, leading into the second half of the season and playoffs.
“I think just, we sort of established a culture early in the year that we’re going to always be supportive of each other,” said Pozzi. “Our main vision was really based on hard work and that nothing was going to come easy for us and that it’s always about hard work and supporting each other … those types of things and we carried that right through.
“It’s great for the seniors, the ones that are graduating, this is a great way to end their midget career. It’s a good way to end the season.”
According to Wheeler, it was a season to remember.
“It was a really surreal experience,” she said. “We didn’t really expect too much going into nationals, so coming out even with a bronze is a really big honour. It’s the first time that our association has ever won the league, or won Pacifics and even go on to nationals, so it was a really big year for us. It’s not every day you get to say you’re one of the top three teams in Canada.”