They’ve watched the boys bring national championship banners to Red Deer, but now the Sutter Fund Chiefs are out to one-up them, to actually win the tournament on home ice.
The Red Deer Optimist Chiefs fell 3-2 in overtime to the Prince Albert Mintos in major midget boys national championship in 2007.
The Sutter Fund Chiefs are hosting the Esso Cup, the major midget girls hockey national championship, starting on Sunday, and the opportunity is there for them to also make history as the first hosts to win the tournament.
“Obviously, (our expectation) is the trophy, but for the team to be successful together and have so much fun with it,” said assistant captain and defenceman Mairead Bast, 16. “It would be unimaginable, unforgettable, it would be insane. We would be so proud, it would be awesome.”
The boy’s loss helped launch a dynasty as the Optimist Chiefs became one of the most successful teams in recent Hockey Canada history, lifting the Telus Cup in 2012 and 2013.
That opportunity is there for the girls as they continue to build the game in Central Alberta.
“It would be nice to give (young girl hockey players) a show of what we are capable of and what the next level looks like and give them a goal for their years to come,” said assistant captain and defenceman Abagael Thiessen, 16.
The Chiefs have played the entire season knowing this tournament was going to be the end results. But instead of resting on their laurels knowing they had their tickets punched for the national championship, they instead used it as a target to build towards.
“It’s always been in the back of our mind,” said the five-foot-eight Thiessen. “We’ve always been thinking, ‘if we’re playing like this right now, how well will we play at Esso?’”
They came within one game of earning a provincial title — losing 3-1 to the Edmonton Thunder in the final — and spent much of the season chasing down the best competition in Western Canada they could find, including a tournament in Vancouver and one in Winnipeg.
Despite they only team at the Esso Cup they have played against is the Thunder — the other four teams are the Moncton Rockets (Atlantic), the Central Plains Capitals (Manitoba), the Saskatoon Stars (Saskatchewan) and the Sudbury Lady Wolves (Ontario) — they believe they can hold their own.
“Edmonton has been to the final round before and they’ve made the Esso Cup every year, so we’re confident with that,” said five-foot-eight forward Breanna Martin. “We’ve beat them (three times) in the regular season and we only lost to them the one time.”
However, they have not played a meaningful game since their loss to the Thunder on March 22. When the puck drops on Sunday, that will be four full weeks since they played a game that meant something, despite a pair of weekend exhibition games against Warner, the Junior Women’s Hockey league regular season champs.
They are focused on what they need to do to be successful.
“We’ve just got to make sure we hit the ice running strong, moving our feet, getting pucks in, getting shots on the net and we’ll go from there,” said Martin, 16.
The tournament also stands to be a major opportunity for not just the Chiefs, but players on all teams, to catch the eye of scouts. Thiessen has already committed to the University of North Dakota while Bast is currently trying to narrow down her NCAA and Canadian Interuniversity Sport choices. But for a player like Martin, who led the Chiefs in scoring with 23 points (15 goals, eight assists) in 32 games, the tournament can serve as a launching point for their educational opportunities.
“The Esso Cup is going to be huge exposure for anyone looking to go on to schools,” said Martin.
At the very least, the Esso Cup will be a major learning opportunity for most of the Chiefs, with many of them still with at least a season of midget hockey eligibility remaining.
“It’s a huge experience, it’s once in a lifetime,” said Bast. “To have it as a 16-year-old is just incredible.”
One thing is for sure, whatever they do will be done as a group. Despite rolling through the Alberta Major Midget Female Hockey League regular season as the second best team, they only had two players hit the top 30 in league scoring — Martin and Thiessen (14-7-21). They relied on a strong defensive first game and elite goaltending from Sarah Murray and Bailey Knapp. They have learned how to win the close games that championship tournaments are generally littered with.
“We’re like 20 sisters, and as our coach (Tom Bast) always says, we’ve got 20 hearts and one beat,” said Martin.
The Chiefs’ first game is Sunday at 7 p.m. against Moncton at the Red Deer Arena.