Kahnawake wins CAN/AM hockey tourney 

The U15A Mohawks hockey team were victorious at the Pierrefonds Sportsplex Arena this past weekend, taking home gold in the four-team U15 Cournoyer division of the 38-team CAN/AM Youth Challenge Cup tournament.

CAN/AM hockey group, the tournament’s organizers, specialize in running large, multi-age group tournaments like the one in Montreal from November 1-3. Other tournament locations include Lake Placid, New York; Lake Tahoe, California; and Seattle.

The Mohawks are an A team, while their three divisional opponents – the Erin Hillsburgh Devils, the Milton Winterhawks, and the Stittsville Rams – are AA teams.

Head coach Justin Kariwakeron Horne was very proud of the team’s performance throughout the weekend.

“I was really excited, because the team really pulled through,” said Horne of his feelings on the team’s overall tournament.

During the round-robin portion, the Mohawks went 2-1, winning their first game 5-3 against the Rams on Friday morning. That afternoon, the Devils beat Kahnawake 6-3.

A 10-2 victory against Milton on Saturday punched their ticket to the gold medal game.

“That one game was pretty much a blowout for us, but the other games were really close,” said Horne.

The Kahnawake team was a mixed team, with two girls on the roster: Bella Deer and Waheson Curotte.

“It was fun playing against players from Ontario, because I got to experience different levels and styles of hockey,” said Deer.

She scored two goals and added an assist in four games, all against the Winterhawks.

“I was very happy with my performance,” said Deer.

Along with being a single-letter team in a double-letter division, their goalie Madden McComber played up an age group.

He would normally have played U13, but Stacey said the team did not have another option in goal apart from McComber.

“I think I played pretty well for a U13 goalie playing for U15A team,” said McComber. “I felt nervous for the first game, but once we started winning, I did not feel as nervous. I was confident in my team.”

His coach said that McComber did as well as he could, given his age and the circumstances, and that the team’s play in front of him put him in a position to succeed.

“It's not like we were in our end the whole game, and he was getting shot at all the time,” said Horne. “We kept it where he can make the saves he needed to make. He didn’t have to make any spectacular saves or be Igor Shesterkin.”

In the finals, the Mohawks had a rematch with the only team that had defeated them in the round robin: The Devils.

“I was very nervous because the team we played in finals beat us the first time we played them,” said Deer.

But Deer did not overthink things, she said, and just tried having fun playing hockey.

Her coach said that the players’ attitudes before the game against a team they had lost against was their key to success.

“I was really surprised. Not many teams could lose 6-3 and bounce back the next day and have the best attitude,” said Horne. The day after their loss was the day they beat Milton to advance to the finals.

“The second time against (The Devils), they were more mentally prepared and physically prepared,” said Horne.

Kahnawake got off to a very fast start in the gold medal game, going up 4-0 after the first period and adding another goal in the second to make it 5-0.

But Erin Hillsburgh did not just give up in the third period, according to Horne.

“They put up a hell of a fight against us. They did not go down easily,” said Horne.

Nevertheless, the lead stood, and the Mohawks reversed their round-robin loss with the 6-3 win.

“I felt happy and exhausted, it was my first time ever winning gold. It was a great experience to share with my team,” said McComber.

Kahnawake’s leading scorer for the tournament was Jaxton McComber, scoring a whopping 12 goals in four games, including four in the finals.

After the win, the Kahnawake coach said his Ontario counterpart and the rest of the team showed a lot of sportsmanship.

“They were very friendly, very courteous. They were happy for us, actually, that we won. They said we deserved it, and we were the better team,” said Horne.

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