Tobique athletes part of top NB midget hockey team
Fredericton Canadiens heading for Atlantic Championships
Two Tobique First Nation hockey players who moved to Fredericton for the winter and stayed with host families so they could play hockey with the Fredericton AAA Canadiens are important members of that team that won the New Brunswick AAA Midget Championships.
After disposing of the Saint John Midget entry in the semi-finals, the Canadiens beat Moncton Flyers in four straight games to take the 2008 New Brunswick AAA Midget championship. In the third game of the Moncton series, grade 10 Leo Hayes student Brett Bernard, a rookie on the team, scored a hat trick to contribute to the 7-6 victory and Sheldon Sappier's line scored two overtime goals to win two of the games.
"The team played really well," commented Brett Bernard during a telephone interview Wednesday, March 19. "I was happy to be with the group that we had. Everyone pulled together, especially in the Saint John series. We thought it was going to be tougher, but their goalie didn't play too well and we took advantage of it.
"We had a great season, but coming into the playoffs we were a little bit nervous. We pulled together; we have great coaches - Kevin Pottle and Tyson Flynn. The year I had was really good. I'm glad I came down here. I had a good year and a great bunch of guys are here. Playing on the team is really something. My host family has been great to me, always there, supporting me."
On April 1 the team flies to Gander, Newfoundland to get ready for their first game April 3. If they win the Atlantic series they will go on to the Telus Cup in Ottawa in just over a month. Sheldon Sappier, a grade 12 student at Leo Hayes school, said the two series were good ones.
"The games in Moncton were all one-goal games," he said. "Moncton was definitely the hardest. They were a fast quick team, a transition team, so we had to watch our turnovers there. The 7-6 game was quite the shootout. We were losing after the first period and then we scored five straight. Then we held them off the last seven minutes. I think they were in our end for the last 10 minutes. Mike Washburn, who's a defenceman, scored the winning goals in both of the games that went into overtime. He has quite the shot there.
"Yeah, I really like playing on the team. I play right wing on a line with Jason Martin and John Tower when he wasn't hurt.
"It was a fun season but I got homesick once in a while. It's a lot of work, six days a week of hockey, but not playing or practising every day. Team bonding and off-ice and games. It felt so good to finally win it, especially in eight games. I don't think anyone expected to win four straight in both series, especially the Moncton one. I hit a couple of posts in final game. The games was 3-1 in the third and I hit a post and didn't feel too good, but our line ended up scoring on the shift so it made up for it. It worked out."
Brett's dad Kelly Bernard has been having a busy sports winter trying to see as many games as possible of his daughter Kelsey who plays basketball for the PAMS Raiders and of his son who is based in Fredericton. He saw every one of the Fredericton-Moncton games.
"The boys won the Saint John series in four straight, then played Moncton in the finals and also beat them four games to nothing," he said last week. "So now the team represents our province and goes to the Atlantic Championships which are held in Gander, Newfoundland this year. "I got to every game. I've been traveling all winter long. Both boys have been billeted in Fredericton, both living away from home. I think they did a really good job. Sheldon's home now, and Brett is moving back on Friday."
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