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Red Deer Minor Midget AAA North Star Chiefs ride wave of confidence into provincials

The Red Deer North Star Chiefs were put through the wringer on the road to an Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League South Division title.
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The Red Deer North Star Chiefs won the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League South Division title earlier this month and are set for provincials Wednesday in Edmonton. (Contributed photo)

The Red Deer North Star Chiefs were put through the wringer on the road to an Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League South Division title.

They won back-to-back overtime games to hoist the Sutter South Cup on March 10, including a 2-1 win over Lethbridge in the final when Andrew Wallace scored the game-winning goal. In the semis, they edged the NWCAA Bruins 3-2, when Tristan Baumung buried the overtime winner.

With five wins in four days at the south division tournament, Chiefs head coach Jesse Hale is excited about a trip to Hockey Alberta Provincials beginning on March 20 in Edmonton.

“We had a few injuries and suspensions, so it was a gutsy performance by our guys to raise their level and two overtime games, so it was a lot of pressure,” said Hale, in his first year behind the bench for the Chiefs.

“They took that and ran with it and we came out on the right side of things. It’s a fine line, we had a bunch of one-goal games. It’s going to have to be a constant effort and there’s no shifts we can take off. They’ve bought into that well and I expect that will be the same (at provincials).”

Their provincial journey begins on Wednesday when they square off against the Leduc Oil Kings. To win a provincial title, they could potentially play seven games in five days. Hale said if they continue to draw on lessons they’ve learned this year, including playing five games in four days at the division tournament, his group should have a strong showing at provincials.

“Every game we’ve won, even if it’s through the season and we trailed by two goals and had to come back. Or get out to a big lead and have to keep it,” he said.

“I don’t know if it’s momentum, it’s definitely some excitement around us. We know what it takes to get there and the effort level we have to have. We’ve learned to win different ways, which is important to us.”

Red Deer finished 23-7-4 in the regular season, with only Lethbridge and the PAC Saints finishing with more wins and points across the league. Foxx Doell and Reed Sparrow were key to the Chiefs’ attack all year long. Doell was sixth in league scoring with 25 goals and 59 points in 33 games, while Sparrow was eighth with 30 goals and 23 assists. He was also one of just three players with 30 goals on the year.

Colby Knight was one of the top goalies in the regular season with 11 wins, five shutouts, a 0.918 save percentage and 2.58 goals against average. He had a 0.956 SV % in the playoff tournament and a 1.28 GAA.

Hale noted at the beginning of the year, his challenge to the group was graduate as many players to the Red Deer Optimist Chiefs as possible. Making it to this stage was never exactly at the forefront, but trying to make the players better individually, made them better as a unit.

“We’ve gotten better every day and the character and leadership that we have from a lot of our players, pulled guys along the right way,” he said.

“We have some really good teammates that want to win and that’s pretty infectious with our group. (This) was always our goal.”



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Byron Hackett

About the Author: Byron Hackett

Byron has been the sports reporter at the advocate since December of 2016. He likes to spend his time in cold hockey arenas accompanied by luke warm, watered down coffee.
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