By Lethbridge Herald on October 15, 2024.
By Justin Seward
Lethbridge Herald
The Lethbridge U13AA Hurricanes came out of the Thanksgiving weekend feeling pretty excited as repeat champions at the Hockey Calgary U13AA Thanksgiving Classic.
Lethbridge went 5-0-1 at the 32-team tournament and included a narrow 6-5 win over Central Albertaâs West Central Tigers in the final.
The Canes accomplished the two-peat with only three players returning of Jaxon Kraemer, Tucker Tillsley and Rhett Fabro from last yearâs squad.
âSo to be able to do it again is a pretty good accomplishment for the kids,â said Rob Edmonds, U13AA Canes head coach.
Edmonds wants his players to take the factor of team work from the tournament as they move along in the season.
âYou canât win as individuals, it takes everybody working together and then just the persistence and the effort to play at the top,â said Edmonds.
Edmonds wants the players to remember just how hard it was to get there.
âOnce you win, it feels like it came easy, but it wasnât easy at all,â said Edmonds.
âIt takes a tremendous amount (of) effort and commitment to the process to come out on the right side of things.â
Edmonds said Hockey Calgary does an exceptional job of putting it on, when asked about the tournament experience.
Lethbridge played six games in just over three days.
âYouâre basically living at the rink,â said Edmonds.
âBy the time itâs done thereâs nothing left in the tank so to speak. They left it all out there for sure.â
An interesting statistic from the tournament was that in five out of the six games, the opposing goalie earned player of the game.
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