The Sylvan Lake Buccaneers are officially the second-best U15B team in all of Alberta since they became the silver medalists in the provincial games on July 16.
In total, five competitive games were played with the final game against the Medicine Hat Sundevils, who won 10-7, said coach Dave Perez.
“It was a very intense game. We were playing with a short-ended bench towards the end of the game, due to injury and suspension, but we battled till the last whistle.”
For the players the experience of provincials was amazing.
“Having the experience to play against some of the best teams in the province was great,” Zaxten Belanger said.
“It was neat playing teams that aren’t part of your regular season but are considered the best of the best and we just about beat them,” Colten Hoffman added.
Team members also learned many new lessons whilst playing.
“We’re able to learn from the experience, on the floor or on the bench, by watching the other teams and your teammates and how they play. A lesson I learned was that teams hit hard, so you need to hit harder,” Hoffman said.
“During the games, the team learned that nothing is given. After losing the first game we had to go through some adversity, and they showed real character in winning against some stiff competition to make it to the gold game,” Perez added.
While some of the players noted that while first would have been better, everyone is proud of their accomplishment.
“If we wanted to play for a medal, we had to earn it and they definitely earned it,” Perez said.
Ending off the season this way is great, he added.
“Our goal was to win our league, and we did that. To top it off with winning silver in provincials is a great way to end the season.”
The team hopes to make it to provincials again in the future.
“I was very happy to play amongst the best teams in the province and I believe that we can do it again if we can all continue to play together as a team in the future,” Nolan Bichel said.
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