Midget AA girls bring home the blue banner

BY MICHAEL PIASETZKI

The Quebec Hockey Association likes to call the Dodge Cup provincial tournament the most important event in minor hockey.

Knowledgeable puck observers would probably agree, for one basic reason. Even though there might be other tournaments on the map that are just as tough to win, such as the Quebec International Peewee Hockey Tournament, it’s definitely the most prestigious five-day event of the year. There truly is nothing more satisfying for a minor hockey league player of either gender to bring the championship banner back home and watch it being raised at a ceremony a week or two later.

Heading into this year’s event that wrapped up on Sunday and was hosted by the Richelieu region, a total of 27 area teams, including 24 boys’ and three girls’ all-star squads, had earned the right to participate in a banner-raising ceremony. That number rose to 28 when the Lac St. Louis Selects midget AA girls’ team defeated the Estrie Elites 2-1 in the final.

What made the Selects accomplishment even more special was the fact it was the first actual girls’ club to capture a blue banner. This was the first year the Lac St. Louis Hockey Association decided to send club teams to the Dodge Cup, instead of all-star squads. Four other girls’ teams participated last weekend. Of those, the peewee and bantam AA Selects squads registered the strongest showing. The bantams lost 2-0 to the Estrie Selects in the title match while the peewees dropped a 3-1 semifinal decision to the Richelieu Remparts.

On the boys’ side, the best performance was turned in by the peewee AA Dollard des Ormeaux/Versant Ouest Vipers, who advanced to the final, only to drop a 1-0 decision to the Chaudière-Appalaches Blizzard. Next in line was the bantam AA Lakeshore Panthers, who lost 2-1 to the Laurentides-Lanaudière Draveurs in the semifinal.

For the midget espoir Webster Academy/Lac St. Louis Royals, who were eliminated on Saturday, the Dodge Cup could have very well been the last time it competed as a unit. The Royals will in all likelihood disband this off-season. The Webster Academy, which runs a hockey concentration program at John Rennie High School in Pointe Claire, has decided to field a midget-level travelling team next year. It will play in non-Hockey Quebec sanctioned games and tournaments, something Hockey Quebec is upset about. It feels Webster Academy will be drawing players from the region into its system only to play in an unregulated league. As a result, it will probably boot the Royals out of the espoir league.

“We certainly hope Hockey Quebec will reconsider its stance,” said Gary Gaul of Webster Academy. “That being said, we feel that fielding a travelling midget team is the right direction to go.”

Puck note: The Lac St. Louis Hockey Association single-letter regional title matches took place April 7 and 8, and not to be forgotten was the fact the boys’ midget A Lakeshore Jaguars captured six straight games en route to capturing the title. The Jags defeated the Cote St. Luc Canucks in the final, in overtime.쇓