After coming off a fantastic win that earned them a berth at the Midget AA hockey provincial championships, the Cree Nation Eenouch crashed back to earth with three tough losses in the tournament held in Repentigny.
Interim Manager Sidney Ottereyes at first didn’t want to talk about it, but then saw the brighter side of it all. “It was a good experience, but they were over-excited and over-whelmed,” Ottereyes said of his team.
The off-ice discipline was partly to blame, he observed. For the first two nights, the players were up late, finally settling down on the third night. Too little too late, said Ottereyes: “They got their eight-nine hours sleep but you need at least two days preparation to play good hockey.”
The plans are already in the works for the next season, beginning with the naming of a new manager. Youth Chief Michael Neeposh is set to take the reigns. For now, 10 of the players are out in Prince George, B.C., where they are playing in the National Aboriginal Hockey Championships.
A banquet is planned for June 12 to honour the players and recognize their performance. They not only won the league championships, they won a national tournament in Drummondville this year. Special guests may include Jonathan and Marvin Cheechoo, depending on how well the San Jose Sharks do in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
