U13A Red Deer Sutter Fund Chiefs. (Supplied)

By Sheldon Spackman

Teamwork Pays Off

Local minor hockey teams celebrate championship titles

Mar 22, 2022 | 12:11 PM

Red Deer Minor Hockey is celebrating a number of team success stories and championship titles earned recently.

Among them is the U13A Sutter Fund Chiefs female hockey team which won the Rocky Mountain Female Hockey League (RMFHL) championship over the weekend. The Chiefs defeated Picture Butte in a two-game sweep by winning 1-0 in overtime on Saturday, March 19, and 2-1 in overtime on Sunday, March 20.

Other major highlights for the U13A Sutter Fund Chiefs this season have included an undefeated pre-season (six games), undefeated regular season (17 games), undefeated playoffs, culminating in the league title, winning the Calgary Inferno AA Female tournament and winning the Redwater Pee Wee Boys tournament.

Head Coach Dave Clark says he couldn’t be more proud of the team which will proudly represent Red Deer at the provincial tournament in Picture Butte March 31-April 3.

“It’s a pretty amazing accomplishment. I haven’t ever been involved with a team that’s accomplished that before,” he exclaims, saying the team’s strength is playing together as a team.

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“We obviously have multiple girls that are very talented individually, but the girls have kind of bought into our plan of playing as a team,” he explains. “We don’t rely on one or two individuals for our success, we’re relying on every girl to contribute and the girls have really bought in to that. So that’s the reason for our success in my mind.”

Coming into each game with the right attitude was also key, according to Clark.

“We try to keep the atmosphere positive as a coaching staff and don’t get too worked up about the highs and lows,” he points out. “The coaching staff we have has just been excellent to keep the girls on track and to keep them focused on what we can control and to always go out and give our best.”

Clark says the team has operated with three mottos in mind all season, including Teamwork makes the dream work, Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard, and Good vibes only.

“I told the girls at the start of the season there are two things under our control: Our effort and our attitude,” recounts Clark. “If we come in and give our best effort and we come in with a positive attitude, then we’ll have success, whatever that might mean. This season we’ve been very fortunate that we’ve had a talented group and we’ve been able to go undefeated, but buying into those kinds of mantras, I think, is the key to our success.”

Elsewhere, the U13B Sutter Fund Chiefs won the RMFHL league championship, defeating Cochrane in two straight games, including a 2-0 win on Friday, March 18, and a 4-0 shutout victory on Saturday, March 19.

The team will proudly represent Red Deer at the Hockey Alberta Provincial Tournament in Calgary March 31-April 3.

The Sutter Fund U18AAA Chiefs won bronze at the AFHL League/Provincial Championship Tournament. Head Coach Brett Wold won AFHL Coach of the Year.

The U15 Sims Furniture Chiefs defeated the Servus Chiefs to win the City League championship trophy. The team went 2-1-1 in round robin play, advancing to the gold medal game Saturday.

The U13 Marshall Construction Chiefs defeated the Earth Smart Solution Crushers two straight in a best-of-three series to win the City League A-side championship trophy.

The Westward Parts Wolfpack defeated the Trophy Loft Hornets in a two-game total goal series, to win the U11 championship trophy.

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