To remain undefeated in any season, in any sport, is an unprecedented feat.
For the Central Zone Rockets U18 AA team, that’s exactly what they did, as a victory Wednesday in their provincial championships capped an incredible 33-0 season.
“We had a great group of kids, we had a lot of adversity all year with injuries and games with very few players,” head coach Devon Sanvold told KelownaNow.
“Everyone on the team went along with what was asked of the coaching staff. With us being an older team and the majority of them being their last year playing midget hockey, they wanted to be on top. Obviously, winning the provincial championship was the candle on the cake, but having an undefeated season was pretty special, especially for the 17-year-old.
The team went through its first four games in the provincial championships, beating its opponents 24-3.
But the final was anything but a cakewalk.
They faced the North East AA Trackers of Fort St. John, a team Sanvold had history with.
“In 2019, I was lucky that a team made it to the provincials, and we ended up in the final and lost to (the Trackers), so it was a nice redemption. It’s a shame that he There has to be a winner and a loser in this type of game, but for me to be able to play against the team we lost to three years ago was good.”
The Trackers played a killer brand of hockey and frustrated the Rockets early in the game.
Photo credit: David Stevens Photography Dain Levesque, the OT hero.” class=”img-responsive” src=”https://www.kelownanow.com/files/files/images/0-3(2).jpg” style=”margin :5px;”/>
“We had a bunch of guys in the room who could step in and we were lucky that one of our leaders all year, Dain Levesque, who has just been a workhouse for us all season, he was the guy who was able to put the puck in the net and let the team win the provincials.
Lévesque’s goal came six minutes into overtime to cap off an incredible season and send players and fans into a frenzy.
“It was huge because Dain was a latecomer to the team from the very beginning,” Warren said. “He didn’t know if he wanted to play hockey, so he was just a huge addition to the team and he really helped us all year, he was awesome.”
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