Girls team finally brings home hardware from NAHC

Leiha Crier finally has some hardware from the National Aboriginal Hockey Championships. After seven years as coach of the Alberta girls, the team captured bronze as they downed Manitoba 8-3 in the event, which concluded Apr. 30 in Saskatoon.

“What a relief,” Crier said. “It’s a monkey off our back for sure.”

This year’s NAHC featured six teams in the girls category. Saskatchewan captured the gold medal, downing Quebec-based Eastern Door and the North 7-3 in its championship contest.

The Alberta girls’ team posted a 2-3 record in round-robin action. Crier’s charges were then defeated 6-1 by Saskatchewan in their semi-final contest.

The team rebounded from that setback, however, to win the bronze medal in its next outing. With a medal on the line, Alberta was able to avenge its 4-3 round-robin loss against Manitoba.

Crier believes the play of Alberta goaltender Kaelin Klim was a major reason why the team was able to enjoy success at the tournament.

“She was unbelievable,” Crier said of her netminder. “She was our best player by far.”

Winning a medal this year was even more satisfying for the Alberta squad because of numerous uncertainties which surrounded the team.

For starters, the club did not have tryouts because it appeared this year’s NAHC was not even going to be held. Saskatoon stepped up to host the tournament after bids for hosting had been extended.

Crier and other team officials selected team members after scouting a pair of tournaments. But they were not able to bring all the players they wanted to Saskatoon.
Alberta’s roster featured 16 skaters and one goalie. Three others missed the NAHC because of injuries while two players were not allowed to go as they were not faring well academically in school.

Though the tournament did not have as many teams as some previous years — when there were 10 female and 10 male clubs — Crier said the play was competitive.
“The last few years (the calibre of the teams) has really evened out,” she said, adding Ontario, a traditional girls power, did not take part this year.

The national tournament also featured seven clubs in the boys’ division. The Alberta entry was victorious in just one of its six matches. The team finished sixth place, edged 8-7 by British Columbia in its final game, which decided the fifth and sixth positions.

Saskatchewan also won the boys’ category, beating EDN 4-3 in the gold-medal contest.

Bruce Littlechild, coach of the Alberta boys team, was disappointed with his team’s record.

Alberta was leading its final game against B.C. 7-4 with four minutes remaining, but ended up losing 8-7.

“We got untimely penalties and the boys quit working,” he said.

Littlechild believes his team was good enough to win a medal at this year’s NAHC.

“We certainly had the talent,”  he said. “And we were in every game. We just didn’t have the bounces go our way.”