Beating the townies at the provincial tournament was something members of the Corner Brook Royals Bantam A hockey team talked about doing all season.
They did their talking on the ice this past weekend at the Rogers Bussey Arena in St. John’s, winning gold at the provincial Bantam A hockey tournament that also featured six teams from the St. John’s-based Doug Marshall Hockey League.
The Royals defeated the RBC Thrashers 3-1 in the showdown for gold to claim the Bantam A title — a feat that hasn’t been done by a Corner Brook team in 29 years.
The Royals had to battle back from a two-goal deficit late in the third period against the RBC Gladiators in a semifinal game to eke out a 4-3 overtime win that was made possible when Nathan King scored the winner in extra time.
Royals captain Jack O’Neill was quick to give credit to all hands for playing hard and never giving up when they fell behind in games.
He was pretty pumped Monday when asked how it felt to beat teams from the east coast.
“We all pulled together and everybody gave it their all. We all wanted to beat St. John’s,” O’Neill said before heading to his grandparents’ place to shovel them out from a winter storm that pounded the city overnight.
Royals coach Rob French was pretty happy to say his team got the upper hand on the east coast teams, because they had their share of challenges this year trying to get some games with checking before heading to the provincials.
He said his team made two separate trips to St. John’s to play exhibition games against teams in the Doug Marshall setup and also took the guys across the Gulf for an invitational tournament in Sydney in an effort to get his players used to receiving and giving a hit, because there is checking only in A divisions of minor hockey now.
French liked how his players made the commitment all season to go for the title and stick with it even when there were times when things didn’t look pretty.
It was a roller-coaster season where the team spent a lot of time on the road, but winning the title on the road like they did makes it all worth it.
“Everything had to go right for you and everything did go right for us at the time when it should have,” French said.
