They already had their ticket to provincials booked, but the Chestermere Lakers atom tier 1 team went out and earned their spot anyway.
After an undefeated regular season — 14-0-1 to top the Tier 1 Central division — and a win in the zone playdowns, the Lakers will try for provincial supremacy starting Thursday in the Atom AA Minor tournament.
They were still finishing up their series with Airdrie on Monday, but the focus quickly turned to the 10-team tournament this weekend in Chestermere.
“This is a unique group,” said head coach Alex Halat. “I’ve had most of them since tyke. Over the course of repetition, they have bought into being a team.
“We don’t have one player that wows everyone and we have to get the puck to that kid. We have 15 kids that essentially play as one.
“We only have 90-100 kids try out in atom, so to be able to put together a group like this is amazing. All our teams have done great throughout Chestermere this season. From the small draw we have, I’m proud of all these kids, not just our atom ones. All but three teams made the playoffs, and we have 32 teams.”
Halat credits the kids on his team for buying into what the coaches asked of them this season, and that was no one was going out outwork them.
A regular week started with dryland training on Mondays, with practices on Tuesdays and Thursdays, ‘breakfast club’ on Wednesday and Thursdays, a shinny pickup game on Friday and then league games on Saturdays or Sundays.
It’s a hectic schedule, but the boys and girls pushed themselves even harder than that.
“We do a challenge every year and it’s not just about hockey but about life in general,” Halat said. “We had a pushup competition. They will do anywhere from 100 to 150 pushups a night. They are pushing each other. They are looking for strength because they are young kids, but as a coach, these are attributes they are going to take into life beyond hockey.
“Pushups, situps and squats are all natural body movements. I’m 40 and I wish I could do 150 pushups a day. We’re trying to put work ethic into the kids and have repetition for good habits. It’s little things like that.”
The atom provincials come on the heels of the peewee double-A team hosting provincials this past weekend.
The peewee Lakers struggled this year, but next year many of these atoms will be moving up and they should be even more improved thanks to the experiences they’ve had this season.
Halat and his coaching staff aren’t focused on results, and that pays off greatly. It’s all about representing your town well and putting in your best effort, always.
“If we lose a game by 10 games, and we worked out butts off, I chalk that up as a win,” Halat said. “The kids now realize that these are attributes we are going to take into life.
“The reality of them going to the NHL is pretty slim. It’s a tough ratio. To become successful engineers, doctors or firefighters, whatever they want to be, it’s pretty likely they will get there with hard work. So it was a matter of instilling that good things come when you work hard.
“Sometimes you might not win, but if you face adversity, you work that much harder the next time.
“We’re proud of these kids because they worked their butts off this season.”
