Some would like to be done hockey and be outside enjoying this lovely weather instead of travelling far and wide to be standing in another hockey rink in a different town or city. But when you see these kids play, you get caught up in the excitement of watching some really good hockey.
The Moose Mountain Drillers is a novice team that consists of 5 Carlyle boys Nate Robertson, Cade Bendtsen, Degan Galbraith, Adrien Riddell, and Hayden McAurthur, 1 Manor boy, Colby Cuddington, and 6 Kipling kids, Jenna Currie, Levi Dayman, Kaiden Lyons, Bryson Andres, Shaw Heaton, Wyatt Balogh. They're coached by Wade Robertson, Lloyd Bendtsen, and Mike Currie. They have been trying to practice at least once a week in whitebear and have travelled to Kipling to squeeze one in, before their first tournament in Estevan on March 9th and 10th. We were all pleasantly surprised to see them play so well together after only a few practices with everybody there. They had some tough losses in OT that ended in a shootout and they had some great wins, where everybody was passing, skating hard and shooting harder. They would ultimately finish 4th, and get their first trophy. What a great weekend with great kids and parents, now to go get ready for the big road trip on the 15th-18th to Grand Forks ND. ROAD TRIP!!
This tournament would be a true test for everybody, with the time change we were getting up @ 5am Sk. time to be at the rink and ready to play at 645am Sk. time. We were a little worried about the kids not playing to their full potential that early in the morning, but we were all pleasantly surprised, they played great and took the W to secure a good spot on the draw for their next game that afternoon. Again these kids amazed us with their game play, even when they're up against the home town team they played their hardest, but couldn't pull out the win. So again we have to get up early and struggle through the morning, but those kids seem to thrive at that time of the day, and would play awesome together once again. Back at the rink 2 hours later we are watching the best game of the weekend, they pulled together to tie it up in the 3rd with a few minutes left. With 10 secs left Adrien would get a break away with the clock running down, we were holding our breath, he shoots with 4 secs left..hit the post!!! Into OT we would go and our kids didn't let up once, our goalie Miss Jenna Currie would keep these kids a float with some great saves. With 2 mins left they come together and score, and put us out of our spectator misery, we are in the C final Sunday morning and everybody gets to sleep in, FINALLY! But the kids were tuckered out, they didn't have much gas left in their tank, and although they played well they couldn't get anything going in the oppositions end, and ultimately would finish 6th in a tournament with 20 teams from all over. We are all very proud of each and every one of you, we can't wait to see how well you play together next weekend in Weyburn, now that you have a few more games under you. Great weekend again, the worst part was the long drive home! Hope you're feeling better Shaw we missed you on the ice this weekend.
Tara Bendtsen
Sports contributor
