Submitted Story: Craig Zamzow |
On the weekend of March 13-15, 2015 the Swan River Novice Stampeders travelled to Thompson, MB to compete in the 24th annual Jack Burden tournament.
Pictured above:
Back Row (L to R): Crystal Zamzow, Tavyn Boychuk, Tucker Thompson, Jeff Playford
Front Row (L to R): Sammy Jo Moshenko, Eli Betcher, Jackson Badowski, Brady Burghart, Carter Bass, Kai Gorchynski
Very Front: Andrew Pidskalny
The 2015 edition featured 17 teams including a team that arrived by airplane from Arviat, Nunavut.
The club left early Friday morning so they could incorporate a field trip and photo shoot at the famed Pisew Falls (pictured below). The school teachers and parents will surely appreciate the team’s “Education Manager” Heather King’s efforts to coordinate this visit.
Friday evening saw the Stampeders face the Flin Flon Bombers. The Bombers coaching staff advised that their star player was unavailable on the weekend, and unfortunately that led to a very lopsided score in the opener. Carter Bass made his career goaltending debut and posted a shutout. 8 different Stampeders dented the twine. Jackson Badowski, Kai Gorchynski, Sammy Jo Moshenko, and Andrew Pidskalny all tallied hat tricks. Tavyn Boychuk and Brady Burghart scored a pair, while Eli Betcher and Crystal Zamzow added singles.
Saturday afternoon, the Stampeders played the Tataskweyak (Split Lake) Eagles. Andrew Pidskalny donned the pads and posted the club’s second consecutive shutout. All ten skaters successfully found the back of the net. Moshenko, Betcher, and Gorchynski led the way with hat tricks. Badowski, Zamzow, and Carter Bass each had a pair, while Tucker Thompson, Jeff Playford, Boychuk, and Burghart added singles.
Saturday evening saw the Stampeders face the 2-0 Thompson Canadiens. The first period was very tightly contested and tied at 1-1, when with 9 seconds remaining, Badowski converted a breakaway opportunity beating the Canadiens netminder high on the blocker side for his second goal of the period. The goal seemed to provide the Stampeders with renewed confidence as they would score five unanswered goals in both the second and third periods. Badowski and Boychuk led the scoring attack with hat tricks. Thompson added a pair, as did Burghart (along with 5 assists). Singles went to Betcher and Moshenko. Carter Bass picked up the win in net.
The final would feature the Stampeders and the Thompson Bruins on Sunday at 11:15AM at the C.A. Nesbitt Arena. Both teams had claimed 3 convincing victories leading up to the “A” Final. The Bruins came out flying and had the Stampeders hemmed in their zone for the first shift, but goaltender Andrew Pidskalny thwarted a wraparound attempt. The game remained scoreless for over 10 minutes until Burghart took a feed from Boychuk and burst in to open the scoring. A couple shifts later Badowski buried a wrister in the top corner to extend the lead to two. In the final minute of the opening frame Moshenko also made good on an opportunity. The second period was a tight checking affair, and the Stamps were only able to add one more goal, when Burghart scored late in the second period to provide a 4-0 lead.
The third period saw the Bruins score once, but the Stampeders wore down the Bruins defence and converted three more times for a 7-1 victory. Burghart finished the game with three goals and two assists. Badowski added a pair of goals, with singles from Moshenko and Boychuk.
Jeff Playford accepted the Jack Burden Cup on behalf of his teammates before they all got their opportunity to hoist it.
Big thank you to all the players and parents for committing to a long road trip to wind down another exciting season of novice hockey.