It’s true in any sport, but tournament hockey shows that it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.
And the Estevan peewee Thunder now know that lesson well after a recent tournament victory in Oxbow.
The Thunder lost their first game to the host Oxbow Huskies 6-1 but then came back and won the tournament with a thrilling 4-3 win over the Huskies in the final.
“They played hard and got solid goaltending from our goalies so they played great,” said Thunder head coach Adrian Fraser.
“They were a little bit groggy because it was an early game with the travel time,” Fraser said of his team. “Then when the boys got there, I don’t think they were quite awake and ready to go. We blew that game but when they got a second chance early in the afternoon to win it they came up big.”
The team came back after their opening loss with a win over Midale, with the score unavailable, and a 4-0 win over Melita, Man.
“The boys had some down time between games,” Fraser said. “They got some healthy stuff in them, some healthy snacks and we changed up our lines a bit. Then we ended up rolling four lines at them and tiring them out. That led us to the victory.”
The win over Melita put the Thunder against Oxbow for their fourth game of the day and the Thunder jumped out to a 4-1 lead.
“They started to wake up a little bit and they got two quick ones (but) we ended up beating them 4-3 in the A final,” Fraser said.
The Thunder have only played one game in the South East Minor Hockey League this year prior to the tournament – a 9-1 win last month over Midale – but they’ve been busy in practice and on the tournament front.
“We go into each tournament with the mindset to come out on top,” Fraser said. “We have our home tournament here Nov. 16 and then we’re in Moose Jaw Dec. 7 and we go to Minot Jan. 19 (2019). “
