By CHARLES TWEED
The Ponoka peewee Broncs are champions and the Ponoka Cultural and Recreational Complex was the house they chose to celebrate in.
The peewee team hosting their home tournament, Feb. 11 to 13, featuring eight teams from across the province.
In their first game, the Broncs outclassed Wetaskiwin 11-3. Jarret Henderson, who had a five-goal game, and Braeden Korchinski who had three goals and two assists, led Ponoka.
The win moved the Broncs to the semifinal against the Strathcona Warriors.
Ponoka didn’t miss a beat in the semi, scoring three times in the first, en route to a 5-2 win. The Broncs showed good balance up front getting contributions from Jordan Feldberg, with two goals and singles from Joshua Vold, Pierce Clemmer, and Korchinski.
The victory propelled the Broncs into the final against a tough Taber team.
The team battled their first stretch of adversity, down 2-1 after the first period of play.
“Taber came out and they were hitting, they were a quick little bunch but they had lots of intensity,” said coach Peter Hall.
“Between the first and second we went into the dressing room and the kids were a little uptight and we managed to get them settled down a bit. We told them to keep playing the way you’ve been playing, they were playing well and we knew if they kept going, good things would happen.”
The speech worked.
In the second, Ponoka found their game, getting five middle-frame markers. The comeback was kickstarted by Jayden Hagemann, who went hard to the net to bang home a puck and square things up. The goal lifted the Broncs — and the packed arena. It was all Ponoka after that.
In the third, the Broncs stiffened up on defense and scored twice more, winning their home tournament 8-2.
“The kids were really excited to win at home and that’s the biggest crowd we’ve had at a game all winter. Our guys played extremely well, probably as well as we’ve played all year, every one of them was fantastic and we couldn’t be happier,” said Hall.
Jarret Henderson was impressive all weekend for the Broncs, but particularly impressive in the final when he scored four consecutive goals in the second period to put the game on ice.
The tournament was a huge success for Ponoka, both on and off the ice.
“All the other teams commented on how well the tournament was ran, Not just on the ice, but the hotel rooms were great, the volunteers were great and they were all happy. They all said they’d be back and I think that’s great for the community,” said Hall.