As the hockey season of 2015-2016 keeps moving on there is a special time of the year when provincial play downs start taking place where teams that are within the same area, say Ponoka playing Caroline, Maskwacis playing Leduc, Wetaskiwin playing Camrose that is the central provincial play downs, but there are way more teams. The way it works is that you have 2 games and it’s a total of goals for and goals against but obviously winning is the prime goal, Maskwacis every year gets the opportunity just like every community to take part in provincial play downs and that’s where it gets really exciting. I remember my days as a minor hockey player getting ready for a provincial game especially if it’s a team you’ve never played before and that are in a different league, it’s something really special and exciting, not knowing who their best players are or how their style of play is, there is just something about provincial play downs that every player loves. The Maskwacis Bantam A team took on Wetaskiwin Bantam AA 86’ers and both games were very fast pace and high tempo right from start to finish, Maskwacis played in Wetaskiwin for the first game and ended up losing 6-2 Maskwacis did good not taking many penalties, they were just out shot and out worked from a bigger, stonger Wetaskiwin team. In the second game however Maskwacis came out flying, with
the stands packed and on home ice they used all home advantages have to offer totally taking it to Wetaskiwin from start to finish with the final score being 10-7 for Maskwacis however Maskwacis still ended up losing the series. With the goal differential coming into play and them losing 6-2, with them losing by 4, the next game they would have had to win by 5, so with the score in the second game being 10-7 they needed to win by 12-7 and they would have ultimately won the series and moved on. For the rest of the Maskwacis teams we wish them good luck as the Midget A team won against Innisfail this past week and are now moving on to play Rocky Mountain House, the winner of that will move on to provincials in March, also to the Peewee A team which is a strong team will be looking to move on tonight in provincial play downs.
Story by Brendan Crier – Communications Officer – Nipsisikopahk Acimowin – Samson Cree Nation
