Through the first 10 games of the 2016-17 season, it seemed that there was no chance that the North Vancouver Storm Juvenile AAA hockey team would be able to defend their crowns as the BC Hockey provincial champions.
It was mid-December, and the team of U21 players from the North Vancouver Minor Hockey Association had just lost to a Vancouver team that barely had enough healthy skaters to fill one full line.
“It was an absolute gong show, to be honest,” said Cole Blight, co-coach of the team along with Sam Mok and John Dickie. It was a brutal loss that put their record at 1-7-1. It was rock bottom. “We just weren’t playing well. Everyone was so down on themselves, everyone was getting short tempers with each other. There was a lot of frustration in the locker room. Guys were trying to do it all themselves, and they were also afraid to make mistakes. They were hesitant, they didn’t want to make the mistake that would lose another game.”
The season changed for the Storm in that locker room in Vancouver.
“We challenged them,” said Blight. “I said if you guys don’t show me that you can play at this level, I will ask them to put us down to Tier 2.”
Challenge accepted. The Storm lost their next game but it was a close contest against one of the best teams in the league. Then they started winning and haven’t stopped since, putting together a 17-4-2 record the rest of the way. North Van capped off their run by claiming their second straight provincial title Sunday night at Richmond’s Minoru Arena.
The provincial tournament started with another setback as the team encountered penalty trouble in Game 1 – two players were given five-minute majors and game misconducts – against the host Richmond team and lost 4-2. The Storm responded by winning their next four games to set up a championship final rematch against that same Richmond team. Juvenile hockey adds a layer of finality for some players, particularly the 20-year-olds who may be playing the final competitive games of their lives. Blight said he brought up that point with his team during the playoffs.
“Once this league is over, yeah there’s beer league, yeah there’s rec league – you’re still going to play hockey – but it’s not the same,” he said. “Give everything you’ve got because you don’t want to look back on this and think you could have done more.”
The team responded, jumping out to a 2-0 lead early in the first period of the final. Richmond got one back late in the frame and the score stayed at 2-1 until North Van increased their lead early in the third. Richmond didn’t die easily, crashing the net to score with 44 seconds left to set up an intense final minute.
“That last 44 seconds were pretty damn long,” said Blight. “I was looking up at that clock quite a bit.”
The Storm stayed strong, however, and the final buzzer sounded to give them a 3-2 win and their second straight title.
“It was just kind of surreal,” said Blight. “There was a lot of questioning if this was something we could really pull off when we were going through that losing streak. When that final buzzer went it was just nuts. Everyone had worked so hard to get that done.”
Blight credited goalie James Peakman for being the backbone of a championship team for the second straight season, the top forward line of Alex Pistilli, Liam Smith, and Kevin Wong for leading the way on offence, and the defensive pairing of Ross Ledding and Tyler Goode for playing shutdown hockey against the team’s toughest opponents.
Blight also noted the contributions of 20-year-olds Thomas Sams, Sean Norbury, Wil Barnett, and Jason Samaridis who, along with Smith, ended their minor hockey careers on a high note.
One more interesting twist about the team relates to the coaching staff – they’re all just two years removed from playing on the team themselves.
Blight, Mok and Dickie took over head coaching duties as 21-year-olds last season and kept it up this year, once again receiving strong guidance and support from North Van Minor executive director Dan Cioffi.
“This could not be done without him,” said Blight. “It’s indescribable how important he was for us.”
That’s two trophies in two years for the young coaching trio – not a bad start to a career behind the bench.
“It’s definitely not what we expected when we started coaching,” Blight said with a laugh, adding that there were many new faces on the team this season. “It was different last year because we had such a talented hockey team. We were scoring five or six goals a game, we were just running and gunning guys. … I actually would say that this one this year was more satisfying as a coach because it felt like we were coaches more.”
