Sign up for the battlefordsNOW newsletter

Edam finally wraps up marathon season

Mar 27, 2017 | 5:00 PM

The shots on goal at the time were 94-93 when Edam forward Owen LaClare carried the puck up the ice on a 2-on-2 rush in the 131st minute of the game.

The Edam Three Stars and Kyle Elks were simply at a standstill in the quarter-finals of the senior hockey ‘D’ provincials.

That was until LaClare picked up the puck and let a shot go on that rush in the fourth overtime period with teammate Martin Smith going hard to the net.

“[LaClare] took a shot and it may have tipped off the defenceman’s stick and dropped a little and went through his legs,” Smith recalled. He coaches the team but decided to also join them on the ice at provincials. “So I probably had the best view of any of the players because I was heading to the net and when I saw it hit the back of the net, it was relief as much as jubilation to know that the game was finally over and we had won and were moving on.

“There were some parts of that night where we thought it was never going to end.”

That marathon of a game on Feb. 26 that propelled Edam into the semis at provincials was one of the many highlights for the Three Stars, whose season finally came to an end last night after a 5-3 loss in the ‘D’ provincial finals to Wilcox.

Although Edam made it all the way to the final, they’re no denying the biggest feeling right now is disappointment.

“It stings today. It’s a tough pill to swallow,” Smith said. “Edam has never won a senior provincial championship and to come that close, it does sting. But as a coach, to look back…and see the adversity that we’ve come through and how hard we fought to get to where we were…I couldn’t be happier with that.

“It’s going to sting for a while but I know that pain that we feel is going to fuel us next year.”

They may have come a couple of goals short in the provincials, but that wasn’t the case at all in the Saskatchewan Praire Hockey League season.

Edam won its first league title after defeating Hafford 3-1 in a best-of-5 series in the finals.Their season not only included a quadruple overtime game at provincials, but also multiple overtime games in league play. Luckily, none were in the finals against Hafford.

It was a 1-0 shutout in regulation on March 20 that sealed the deal, which was fitting, as goaltender Quinton Gauthier was arguably the team’s most important player this season.

“First and foremost, goaltending is your big part and Quinton Gauthier I think is the best goaltender in the league,” Smith said. 

It’s hard to forget that Gauthier stopped almost every shot he faced in that quadruple overtime game in the provincials, allowing just one goal on 94 shots. The Three Stars were also shorthanded 19 times in the game, including eight times in the overtimes.

In regulation, he was also close to leaving after taking a puck in the side of the knee.

“He couldn’t feel his foot and I don’t know if it hit a nerve but I’ve never seen him go down and stay down before,” Smith said. “Our backup, we had told him he better get out on the ice and stretch out. He didn’t really want to go out there. Credit to Quinton. He battled through it and was unbelievabe and really the major reason that we won that night.”

In league play, Gauthier finished with three shutouts in 12 games in the playoffs, to go along with a league-leading 2.03 goals-against-average.

Winning the league takes more than just one player, however, and Edam finished with the top three playoff scorers in the SPHL.

Mitch Wall once again led the regular season in points with 71 but was also first in the playoffs with 25 points.

LaClare was second with 22 and Brody Roach was third with 21.

“When your best offensive players are [also] your best defensive players, you have the makeup of what it takes to win a championship,” Smith said. “They were excellent defensively. Those guys blocked shots and they killed penalties.”

With both league play and provincials now done, there is time for much needed rest.

“Definitely this time of year, you’re going to be banged up, you’re going to be tired,” Smith said. “But we didn’t get to where we were by giving into the pain and the fatigue and that’s what you have to do at this time of year.

“I know we’ll be hungry to get back at it and once we rest up and realize how well we did this year, guys are probably already excited to get next season going.”

 

nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca

@NathanKanter11