A mix of joy and relief could be seen on the faces of the Meota Combines at the Battleford Arena Saturday night.
For the first time in their history, the Combines took home the Saskatchewan Prairie Hockey League title as they defeated the Hafford Hawks by a score of 6-3 in the fifth and deciding game.
“It’s really hard to try and sum everything up and how we are all feeling right now,” Combines captain Scott Maunula said.
“It was a hard fought series with Hafford and they made us earn it. The effor that everyone put in all series was huge.”
The road to the league championship was a long one for the Combines as they played in the maxmium amount of playoffs games with 15.
They also came back from a 2-1 deficit in the first round against the Maymont Settlers, withstood a push from the Edam Three Stars after winning the first two games of the semifinals and topped the Hawks in a pair of win or go home affairs to hoist the trophy.
“We never quit,” Maunula said. “Whenever we lost we never had our heads down. We always stepped up and knew that we would be better the next time out.”
“I’m not sure if we wanted to work on our conditioning or what, but I think this shows just how well we can play under pressure,” Combines forward Blake Tatchell said.
Tatchell led the way in the championship clincher with a three goal performance.
“He’s been our best guy all year long and it’s fitting that he got a hat trick in our biggest game,” Combines defenceman Sean Patrick added.
Dayne Iverson, Kihisis Derocher and Maunula rounded out the scoring for the Combines.
James Revering got the start in goal Saturday for the Combines as he once again had a strong showing after taking over for an injured Josh Alook in the fourth game of the final.
“I think it had been about a month since he had last played a game before he came in for us when Josh got hurt,” Tatchell said.
“To see how he stepped up when he came in cold was pretty amazing.”
Patrick was named the playoff MVP after putting up 10 points in 15 games.
“He’s a solid anchor on the back end for us,” Tatchell said.
“He battled through injuries during the playoffs, but he gave it everything he had every night.”
Clay Casavant, Kyle Rivett and Brooks Fleury all scored for the Hawks in the loss.
This is the second straight year that the Hawks made it to the league final, as they were defeated by the Three Stars last season.
Although the makeup of the Combines roster is still to be determined for the 2018-19 campaign, the team is ready to try and defend the SPHL title.
“It will be a bit of a different perspective now that everyone’s chasing after us,” Patrick said.
“I think we’re up to the challenge though.”
