U9 MD Boys find consistency, belief in Rock Cup silver

The Finnbilt Construction U9 MD Boys St. Marys Rock emerged from the Rock Cup tournament, hosted in St. Marys Feb. 6-8, as the silver medalists. Pictured in front is Mason Krauskopf. In the second row, from left to right, are Henley Mykicz, Elly Kittmer, Cooper Mitchell, Clarence Dafoe, Jackson Monisit-Brown and Logan Bickell. In the third row, from left, are Ian Avey, Nate Campbell, Will Graham, Gibson Rumble, Angus Palmer and Marcus Horenberg. In the back row, from left, are coaches Chris Rumble, Brett Graham, Scott Graham, Alex Campbell and Brett Bickell. Not pictured was coach Nathan Brown.

By Spencer Seymour

The Finnbilt Construction U9 MD Boys St. Marys Rock found new levels of consistency and confidence in capturing the silver medal at the Rock Cup tournament in St. Marys Feb. 6-8.

According to head coach Brett Graham, the team had very few lacklustre moments throughout the tournament.

“I thought the kids had a really great weekend,” Graham said. “We played some pretty good hockey. They were working hard, playing consistent and we were getting pucks out at our blueline, which has in the past come back to haunt us sometimes, but for almost the whole weekend, they were doing a really good job of doing that.”

The Rock went undefeated through the round-robin, winning all four of their games to earn a spot in the finals against the St. Thomas Junior Stars. Graham said the team’s consistency led them to their four straight victories.

“We talked about making sure that we were playing the entire 30 minutes,” Graham told the Independent. “They did a really good job of not having a bad period here or a bad period there or having a couple of bad shifts in a row. They were just very consistent in their game right through the whole tournament.”

That consistency, Graham noted, led to his squad finding a deeper belief in themselves.

“It’s unbelievable considering how young they are. This team has really come a long way just since the start of the season. We weren’t playing very consistent hockey at the start. They are just believing in themselves now. That’s the biggest thing. I think they’re going out thinking now, ‘Hey, we can win this game.’

“The mentality of going into a game when you know you’re going to get beat up pretty good isn’t a lot of fun,” Graham continued. “But they’re going into all these games now thinking they can win every single game that they’re playing in, and that’s the biggest change I’ve seen in them.”

Graham further stated the team got major contributions throughout the weekend from the whole lineup.

“Angus (Palmer) had a bunch of great plays on defence and scored some big goals for us as well. Will (Graham) played a lot of hard-nosed minutes and shut guys down on the other team. Mason (Krauskopf), our goaltender, was always on his game, it seemed. Jackson (Monisit Brown) scored a bunch of our goals and is a kid we really rely on. There were definitely a lot of really great individual performances and moments. Every single player made contributions and played a very important role in the team’s success in the tournament.”