For the first time in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League's (CSSHL) history, a team from outside the Lower Mainland in British Columbia has won the private school hockey league's U15 western Canadian championship.
The Edge School Mountaineers achieved the feat by besting the Abbotsford-based Yale Hockey Academy 6-5 on March 13 in the gold-medal game, to capture the Springbank-based private school's first CSSHL banner for the U15 division. Owen Cooper scored a hat trick for the Mountaineers in the game, while Reed Reschny, Kyle Oakenfold, and Cruz Pavao also added to the team's goal tally.
At the other end of the ice, Cole Prelusky registered 38 saves to keep the Edge's lead intact.
“Obviously, we’re very pleased we won the championship,” said Micki DuPont, the head coach of the Mountaineers U15 team, which is comprised of Grade 8 and 9 players.
According to DuPont, the Edge players managed to elevate their game at the right point of the season. While the U15 team finished the regular season in third place of the 10-team league, the Mountaineers found an extra gear in time for the CSSHL playoffs, which as usual were held in Penticton, B.C.
“Throughout the year, we talked about continuing to get better and better,” DuPont said. “I don’t want to say it doesn’t matter if you win the regular-season games, but we had the goal all year of winning the playoff championship. That was our final goal no matter what. It didn’t matter if we were winning 8-1 or losing 8-1, we wanted to play the right way the whole time.”
During the regular season, the Edge was one of the CSSHL U15 league's top teams, posting a 20-6-1 record to secure third place. The Mountaineers outscored opponents 166-85 to record the division's second-best goal differential.
The Edge showed up during the playoff tournament in Penticton, winning all five of their fixtures and outscoring their opponents 29-13. The tournament wins included beating the first-seed Burnaby Winter Club (BWC) Academy in the semi-finals and the second-seed Yale Hockey Academy in the final.
DuPont credited the “great atmosphere” at the CSSHL playoff tournament in Pentiction, which was being played for the first time since March 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Being cheered on by the other Edge teams in the semi-final and final provided his players added motivation, he added.
“It was so much fun. We won the championship and had the U15 prep team and the U18 female team there cheering us on in the semi-final and the final,” he said.
“I think it really pushed us over the top and gave us some extra energy to win the championship. It was such a cool feeling and that’s a cool part of the school as well – the culture of the kids cheering for each other and pushing each other on is great to see.”
According to DuPont, the Edge's hockey players will now take a well-earned spring break before resuming their rigorous training regimen for the remainder of the school year. He said as part of the Edge School's hockey program, the players are on the ice three times a week, with additional strength and conditioning and off-ice training as well.
While there is no regular season or tournament to prepare for until the fall, he added Edge School students' natural drive to get better will continue to motivate them for the rest of the school calendar.
“We do think the development you get at Edge is second to none and the environment there is second to none as well,” he said. “Everyone is focused on their academics, their athletics, and their character. It’s different from a normal or regular school. Everyone is pretty focused and goal-driven.
“Obviously the season is done, so there’s no motivation for the league championship anymore, but the motivation becomes to keep getting better every day and improving so that we’re ready for the season to come.”
