Something happened in Redvers last weekend that has never happened before – the Big Six Hockey League’s Lincoln Trophy was lifted by the home Rockets.
The Rockets won 2-1 Saturday at home, sweeping the first place Carnduff Red Devils in four straight games.
“It was awesome,” said Rockets co-general manager Dallas Jonassen. “There was a lot of pride… There was a lot of emotion there.”
The rockets opened the scoring in the first minute of the second period when leading playoff scorer Drew Hoff converted behind Carnduff’s Cody Dumaine. The two teams didn’t score until there was only 2:41 on the clock in the third period and Brady Fidierchuk gave the Rockets a 2-0 lead. Carnduff tried to pour on the pressure and Blake McMillen scored with 52 seconds left. But the Red Devils couldn’t get the equalizer to send it to overtime, sending the home team fans home happy.
It was a big year for Redvers, who only lost one game since Christmas and went the entire playoff run undefeated.
“Everything fell into place for players, and that was the biggest reason,” said Jonassen. “We didn’t know what a couple of players were doing and then we had three or four players fell into place and that made the difference. It gave us some depth.”
Coming down to the finals, Shane Marsh and Thomas Bauche split the duties in net for most of the run, giving the Rockets extra depth in the crucial goaltender position.
“I think staying out of SAHA (provincials) helped us out too,” Jonassen said. “Seems like in SAHA, we can get banged up, sometimes pretty bad. It’s a pretty physical side over there.”
Carnduff added extra games in their schedule by making it to the senior B south final against Balcarras, adding extra games with wear and tear to their schedule along the way.
Game 2 at Carnduff on March 16 went to double overtime, with defenceman Koltyn Miller scoring the winner 6:38 into the second overtime.
“It was one of the big deciding factors in that series,” said Jonassen. “If gave us extra momentum and we just kept rolling on that. We never lost a game in the playoffs. We just got on a roll.”
“It was a great series and it was great for us to lift that trophy,” Jonassen said.
The final two teams were first and second in the Big Six regular season standings and are only 57 kilometres away from each other.
“It was nice to see the top two teams get to the final,” said Jonassen. “We’re close together (geographically) and we packed the house because of it.”
The atmosphere was packed in the playoffs because the games were also close.
“It was a great atmosphere (at home), especially for winning the Lincoln Trophy for the first time in 59 years,” Jonassen said.
Next season will present a chance for the team to do something else it’s never had the chance to do: defend the title. That may present its own challenges as Redvers isn’t close to a bigger centre like Estevan.
“We’ve got a core group of guys,” Jonassen said. “Hopefully we can be just as competitive next year.
