The Lake Melville Midgets proudly hoisted the Labrador Cup March 7 after a 7-1 win over the Labrador West favourites.
Kevin Bolger, coach and president of the Lab. West Minor Hockey Association, said Labrador West skated away with some spectacular wins in the Atom, Female, and Bantam divisions of the Labrador Cup tournament, but Lake Melville secured clear victories in the Pee Wee and Midget divisions.
"The difference was the other team definitely wanted it more than what we did," he said after the championship game. "They outplayed us. They outworked us. They created their opportunities and we sat back in our heels; as a result you see what happened."
The Midget teams tied in the two games they played before the championships, but Lake Melville moved ahead early in the final game, scoring two goals each in the first and second period.
The Goose Bay team scored three additional goals in the third period and Labrador West capped things off with a sole goal landed by Amber Coffey.
Bolger said he told his team to keep working and get back in the game because if he gave up as a coach the players would have given up as well.
"This game is a great indication of how we'll do at the provincials," he exclaimed. "If we don't step it up two notches... we're not going to be so well received at these provincials. We're not going to be playing the hockey to the caliber we're going to be in. We're gonna have our hands full."
The provincials for the Midget D division will be hosted in Labrador West from April 5-7, and Bolger expressed the Labrador West team shouldn't have had such a loss in a practice tournament.
"The Midgets shouldn't have been like this," he stated. "These guys here are playing Midget E's which is a step below us, we're playing Midget D's and we just lost to them 7-1. So you can obviously see that they probably should be in our division or we should be down in theirs. Hopefully the teams coming in won't be too, too strong."
He said there is a lot the team can do before provincials, and taking care of the defensive zone is at the top of the list.
The whole idea behind the Labrador Cup, Bolger said, was to see where the players were at this stage of the game and figure out what they needed to work on, so overall he believes the tournament was a success.
Division Labrador West vs. Lake Melville
Atom A 9-1
Pee Wee A 1-5
Female 7-1
Bantam A 5-2
Midget A 1-7
Additional Championships
Atom B vs. Novice C 7-1
U-15 Female vs. Pee Wee 1-6
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