Disappointing third-place finish for hockey team

Though his side returned from the National Aboriginal Hockey Championships with some hardware, Coach Taylor Harnett had some mixed feelings.

Harnett was the bench boss for the Alberta boys squad that captured the bronze medal at the national tournament, which concluded May 4 in Kahnawake, Que.

Alberta doubled Manitoba 6-3 in the bronze-medal contest. British Columbia emerged victorious in the gold-medal match, downing Ontario 5-3.

“It wasn’t the colour of medal we wanted,” Harnett said of his team’s third-place finish. “I think everybody is definitely disappointed. It’s good to win a medal but we wanted the gold.”

A year ago Harnett had coached the Alberta boys team to a silver medal at the NAHC, which was held in Saskatoon. Team officials were hoping to move up a notch and capture gold this time around, especially since close to two-thirds of the club’s roster were returning players.

The Alberta side proved it was going to be a contender this year early on at the tournament. It easily won all three of its round-robin matches, 5-0 over Ontario, 7-0 versus Team Atlantic and 5-2 against Manitoba.

Alberta then registered a 4-2 triumph over Team North (Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut) in its quarter-final battle.
But its gold-medal aspirations were dashed when it was edged 9-8 by Ontario in a shootout in a semi-final affair.

“We scored enough goals to win that game but it was an uphill climb for us for most of the game,” Harnett said.

Alberta registered a huge rally in the contest, trailing 8-4 with four minutes left to play in the third period. Alberta scored four late goals to tie the game, including one with a mere second left on the game clock, sending the game to overtime.

When 10 minutes of extra play did not decide a winner, a shootout resulted. The shootout lasted seven skaters per side before Ontario prevailed.

“I couldn’t believe we were at that point,” said Harnett, who has been coaching with Edmonton’s South Side Athletic Club, a AAA organization, for the past 15 years. “I’ve been coaching a long time and never been part of a game like that. Coaches don’t give up and you don’t expect your players to either.”

A total of 16 clubs - eight male and eight female - participated at this year’s NAHC. The tournament has been held annually since 2002.

One of the biggest surprises at the event was the fact that Saskatchewan, the five-time defending boys champions, did not earn a medal this time around.

The Quebec-based club called Eastern Door and the North successfully managed to defend its girls title. EDN beat Saskatchewan 4-3 in the gold-medal match. Manitoba took home the bronze by eking out a 6-5 victory against Ontario.

As for the Alberta girls’ side, it posted a 1-1-1 record in its three round-robin matches. Its hopes of returning with a medal though were ended when it lost 4-2 to Ontario in a quarter-final match.
Alberta rebounded from that setback and doubled Team North 6-3 in a relegation contest, thus earning a fifth-place finish.