The Meadow Lake U18 Stampeders are northern provincial champions. After losing Game 1 in the modified best-of-three to Martensville March 7, the Stamps turned the tables on their opponents, winning back-to-back games Saturday (March 14) to win the northern provincial championship. “We played Martensville Saturday afternoon at Moeller Hometown Arena in the Meadow Lake Co-op Centre,” explained U18 Stampeders coach Kim Kozlowski. “We were down one-game-to-none against them, and ended up winning Game 2.” The Stamps were down 4-2 going into the third period, meaning they had to score at least three goals and prevent their opponents from scoring any more if they wanted to stay alive. “And, we did,” Kozlowski said. “We scored three goals and beat them 5-4. It would have been easier just to pack it in and call it a season, but the boys decided not to. They played hard and just kept going. It was a great win.”
The modified best-of-three format meant, with the series now tied at one game apiece, a 10-minute mini game was played immediately following. “It was still scoreless after that, so we went to sudden death overtime, and we scored in overtime,” Kozlowski said. “We won the series and are northern provincial champions. Now, we’re off to the provincial finals.” The provincial final gets underway Saturday (March 21) in Balgonie between the Stamps and the Prairie Storm Lightning. Game 2 (and Game 3 if necessary) will take place the following weekend back in Meadow Lake. “Obviously, I am very proud of and happy with the guys for their effort this past Saturday,” Kozlowski said. “The boys really did what they had to do to beat Martensville. Proud is a bit of an understatement. I am extremely happy for the guys. It’s a big deal for the kids, and you could tell by how they celebrated after scoring that overtime goal. It means a lot to them and we’re looking forward to the Prairie Storm. This is going to be our toughest challenge of the year, so we’re really going to have to pay attention to the details going forward. It’s going to have to be all hands on deck. It’s going to take everybody’s ‘A’ game to beat these guys, and I know the boys have it in them to do just that.”
Meanwhile, league play has come to a close for the Stamps, as this past Friday (March 13), they were eliminated from Tri-City playoffs by Prince Albert. “There were three teams in the league with the playoff format seeing the second and third-place teams meeting in the playoffs and the winner advancing to face the first-place team which is North Battleford,” Kozlowski said. “We took Game 1 in Prince Albert, and P.A. came back to play us here Friday night. We out-shot them, we outplayed them, but we just couldn’t take their goalie. They took Game 2. The mini game was scoreless, then in overtime, they got one on us. That’s just the way it goes sometimes.”
On the plus side, however, Kozlowski said the team can now put its entire focus on the provincial final. “There is now one less distraction in terms of trying to also fit in league playoffs,” he said. “We can now just focus on our provincial run, which is where the boys’ hearts are now too. I just have such an overwhelming sense of pride and happiness for the guys.”