By Dan Plouffe
The spirit of Poppa Jim, the copycat teddy bear coach, a rugged shepherd plaster head called The Dude, and High School Musical tunes helped power Nepean, Gloucester and Ottawa clubs to provincial titles, as local teams used home ice to their full advantage during an unforgettable Ontario Women’s Hockey Association championships from April 4-7.
Compared to two gold, a silver and two bronze last season, teams from the nation’s capital more than doubled their medal haul this year with four gold, a silver and six bronze.
There were countless heart-warming moments, and loads of laughs and smiles as 388 of the province’s best girls’ hockey teams descended on Ottawa and showed off the tremendous spirit that thrives in the game.
“I think girls’ hockey has it right,” says Les Mery, coach of the Peewee ‘C’-champion Nepean Wildcats, whose players visited their opponents’ dressing room after their gold medal final to congratulate them on their silver medals and thank them for the great game.
“They take the emphasis off all the big awards and really preach connecting as people,” Mery adds. “It’s been a lot of fun.”
Win dedicated to Poppa Jim Mery’s team carried a strong connection with someone they lost back in February – Jim Sullivan, the grandfather of player Alexa Anderson, known as “Poppa Jim.”
“He was a grandparent to every single one of us,” Anderson shares. “He is amazing. He knew every single person here and when he passed away it broke everyone’s heart.”
The Wildcats dedicated their provincials tournament to his memory, and wound up with a gold medal thanks to a come-from-behind 3-2 triumph over Ennismore in the final at Walter Baker Arena.
“When they scored the second, everyone was like ‘please Poppa Jim, help us!’” recounts Anderson, whose teammate Calla Brown scored the second of two late third-period goals to lift Nepean to victory. “It just feels the best.”
Teddy bear stars for G-C The Gloucester-Cumberland Stars were also involved in a nail-biting championship match, but used a little levity to their advantage en route to an Atom ‘A’ division crown.
Concerned that the girls were feeling too stressed before their semi-final contest, assistant Trevor Quinn pulled out a teddy bear clad in Stars gear during head coach Ryan Young’s pre-game speech, and began mimicking his movements behind his back – including mocking the coach’s plentiful hand-talking.
“It brought smiles, they laughed, and it took the pressure of the situation off,” recalls Young, whose players brought the teddy on the ice for post-game celebrations. “It’s always been about fun all year.”
Playing on their home rink at Ray Friel, the Stars won overtime games in the quarter- and semi-finals to reach the championship game against Aurora, which they won 2-1 thanks to a goal with under five minutes to play.
“I’m so proud of the girls,” adds Young, whose team mixed in with the silver medalists for a photo after their tight game. “They worked hard all year and this is just the culmination of pure effort and heart on their part.”
‘The Dude’ acts as omen The Ottawa Ice also carried a lucky charm with them in their quest for Atom ‘B’ gold, although theirs was a whole bunch more unusual than a teddy bear.
Coach Mike Clancy received a rather strange gift at the team’s Christmas party – a plaster head carved with the face of a very rugged-looking shepherd.
“The kids immediately gravitated to this silly plaster head, and all year they called him, ‘The Dude,’” Clancy explains. “We went on an incredible winning streak after we started to bring him out. Every game, the head had to hang in their dressing room as a mascot.”
Turns out Clancy’s team was a bit of a reflection of the rugged Dude. The Ice persevered through a nine-period semi-final game against Woolwich to win 1-0 on Sunday morning, and then returned to the ice less than two hours later for the final. The gold medal match went to overtime again before Abbey McMillan ended it in the second extra session.
“The whole place erupted,” Clancy describes. “I recall Abbey’s face in particular. She went screaming by the bench with a thousand-watt smile on her face as she raced by to hug her teammates. It was really cute. When you see kids have success in whatever they do, it’s really so much fun to watch them. It’s just pure, genuine joy.”
Clancy emphasizes that every player was a big contributor to the team’s success all year, and especially during the draining provincials tournament. And The Dude may have had a role too.
“He’d been through a lot,” Clancy adds. “About three weeks ago I was putting the puck bag away in my garage. I tried to catch it in the air and I missed. He hit the garage floor and a big block of plaster came off, but he didn’t shatter.
“I said, ‘That was a good omen that he could survive.’”
High School Musical champs The Ottawa Ice were not only champions of the Bantam ‘C’ division, they’d also take home the top prize for best pre-game karaoke singers. Instead of a traditional pump-up song like We Will Rock You, the Ice preferred to belt out tunes from High School Musical – Breaking Free was their favourite.
“We had some weird traditions,” smiles forward Raquel Franco, who celebrated a provincial championship at Ray Friel, the rink she grew up playing on. “We all stick together, and we love each other. We’re like a family, I think. I’m sad that it’s over.”
There was no better way than to end with a championship though, and for Franco, there’s also the memory of a highlight-reel goal that gave Ottawa a comfortable 5-1 advantage in the second period en route to a 7-2 victory over Waterloo.
“This was probably my best game ever, I’ve got to say,” says the career house leaguer who stepped into competitive hockey for the first time this season. “I’ve never scored two goals in a game before. I’ve never experienced anything like this before. I’ve never won tournaments or anything. It was so nice having my parents and all my loved ones here to see us win.”
Other local teams collecting medals included: Nepean Atom ‘AA’ (bronze), Gloucester Atom ‘C’ (bronze), Nepean Peewee ‘BB’ (bronze), Nepean Peewee ‘B’ (bronze), Kanata Peewee ‘C’ (bronze), Ottawa Midget ‘A’ (bronze) and Gloucester Midget ‘C’ (silver).
—with files from Josh Bell