Historical BHS Sr. Boys Hockey Season
The Blackville Sr. Boys Hockey Team had a wonderful 2021-2022 season. Despite the two-week COVID lockdown, the 2021-2022 season was the first complete season since 2019.
This year the Sr. Boys team needed another goalie because they lost their goalie Keaton Walls when he graduated after the 2020-2021 season. This year the team used the rule that allows a school to pick up a player from another high school in their area that got cut from the team at their home school. This rule allowed them to pick up Miramichi Valley High School graduate Charles “Chuck” Hutchison. Hutchison quickly became a vital asset to the team.
“So for us, this season started as a rebuilding year as we welcomed our largest class of rookies to the team after losing our largest class of seniors the year before. These boys throughout the season never showed quit as we pushed them to their limits during practice. Bonding as a team over the season you could tell there was something special about these kids.” Said Assistant Coach Josh McCormack.
Many of the boys on this year’s team had never played for a high school hockey team before. This was their first year getting to experience being the center of attention at the pep rallies. The team became very close through the season so they could easily bond, although a lot of them played other school sports together.
COVID-19 stopped the 2020 season one week early preventing the league from having its provincial final tournament. Only a select few of the current players had to suffer the pain of having a high school provincial title taken away as their 2019-2020 team seemed to be a shoo-in to bring home the banner. Again, the 2021 season was also cut short due to COVID-19 protocols and restrictions.
In the 2021-2022 season, the boys had a very good run, winning most of their games. The scores of the games they lost were normally within one to two goals. Locals could always catch the game times and updates on Blackville School’s Facebook page.
BHS finished first on their side of the province and headed to St. Leonard, New Brunswick, for the provincial final tournament. It was set to start on Friday, however, due to weather conditions, the Friday games got pushed to Saturday. In the round-robin, the BHS senior boys won their first two games and lost their last. They played in the semi-finals early Sunday morning winning 6-3 sending them to the finals late Sunday afternoon.
The time between games allowed for many Blackvillians to hop in their cars and drive cross-province to cheer on their BHS boys in hopes of watching them claim the banner.
Many BHS alumni and BHS boys hockey alumni travelled to St. Leonard to watch the boys win the final game with a score of 6-4 beating the host team who had an undefeated season.
McCormack commented on the final game, “They (the team) had the fire in their bellies but the crowd there to support was what put them over the top. From parents to alumni to teachers to fans, I’ve never seen a crowd like that before. They kept the boys going in the hard times and celebrated in the good. When we scored with 25.6 seconds left, the emotion in the rink was one I had not experienced since the mighty we won Kraft Hockeyville. This was a special year, capped off with a special win. One I’ll always remember and I’m sure everyone else theirs that night will too.”
The boys celebrated their goals and their win by skating to the area in the arena where their former teammates were watching from. It is evident that the bond of the BHS hockey family carries on past their high school years.
On Monday evening there was a celebratory parade through Main Street in Blackville.
