The Wheatland Braves had an amazing championship victory over the weekend in the U13 hockey league. 

The Braves had a tight 2 – 0 victory over the Taber Golden Sun after an intense season. Coach Randy Hanas reflected on how the team played during the season.  

“We started this process about seven months ago in late August and we picked our team out of about 85 kids and they just came together. They trusted in each other. They worked hard looking back at how much time and practice we put in. The bus trips and the cold rinks and all that stuff, they really came together as one team and worked extra hard. We believed in them, and they believed themselves.” 

Many great teams have also had their fair share of challenges and the Braves are no exception. Hanas brought up some of the biggest struggles for the team this season. 

“We have 3 returnees from last year, but basically, it’s a new team and none of them have really played together at all.” 

“Sometimes, it's just the mindset they kind of can get off track or are thinking of one thing and doing another thing and you just have to keep reminding them that this is when we've got to dig a little deeper to succeed at this level.” 

After a successful season, the team is excited for the future but that might look a little different as only a few of the players are expected to return. Most of them are moving into the U15 league.  

“We have about 5 or 6 coming back, one goalie, so it'll be interesting. We’ve got a pretty decent draw area too so we'll have probably 90 or possibly over 100 kids at the trial process, and we only need 16 kids” 

With 90 to 100 new kids all bringing their own skills and talent some people could be worried about players hoping to return after their winning season. Hanas also touched on that. 

“I always as the coach tell the kids it's not ever a guarantee, but obviously 99.9 per cent of the time they usually have a have a spot on the team because they've been through the process and they were good enough to make it last year. If they worked hard all summer, there's no reason that they shouldn't be on the team moving forward for next year.” 

With the success of this year with a new team, next season might just be what the Braves need to start a championship-winning streak.