Mohawks medal once again 

Kahnawake minor hockey is on a roll in tournament play this year, with the U15A Mohawks’ finals appearance in Pierrefonds last weekend one of many top results for the hockey program as of late.

“This team won the Can/Am tournament, and now they were finalists in the Pierrefonds tournament. I think that’s all good stuff,” said Lou Ann Stacey, director of the U15 age group for the Kahnawake Minor Hockey Association (KMHA).

While the U15A Mohawks ultimately lost in the finals - getting shut out 3-0 by the Aylmer Iceberg - Stacey said the team should still be proud of the result.

"Maybe they didn’t win the big one - which I think they could have, it just didn’t work out –but this is still an accomplishment, to play in the finals and come back home with the silver and the banner,” said Stacey.

The five-team tournament - one team pulled out at the last minute - operated in a similar fashion to many tournaments: two preliminary games, where the three best teams would automatically qualify, and the fourth and fifth best teams would play each other to determine the final seed.

That process started for Kahnawake on Friday, January 24, with a 6-1 win over the host team Pierrefonds Barons.

Their next game was against Hockey Quebec-Chaudiere-Appalaches, in what ended up being a hotly contested 3-3 tie.

With only a few minutes left in the game, it was not looking like that would be the final result.

“We were losing 3-1 with less than two minutes left in the game,” said Stacey. Kahnawake came back in the dying minutes to tie the game at three and ensure they would play in the elimination round.

The Aylmer Iceberg won both of its games, placing it in the first seed.

Kahnawake and Hockey Quebec-Chaudiere-Appalaches, with one win and one tie each, were the second and third seeds, giving the Mohawks a chance to build on their comeback to try to make the finals.

Playing against the same team in back-to-back games in a tournament like this requires a lot of strategic thinking, said Stacey.

Game plans evolve, for example, now that the team has seen what the other will play like.

The experience against the Chaudiere-Appalaches team seemed to pay off for the Mohawks in the semi-finals Sunday morning, as the game was a lot more one-sided in Kahnawake’s favour, with the Mohawks taking a 3-0 lead at one point in the game.

Then tempers started to flare, and things got rough on the ice.

“At the end of the game, the referees lost control, and they said that the coaches didn’t get their players off the ice,” said Stacey. "But the coaches were trying to call their players. In any case, it got a little bit rough at the end.”

Referees decided that the coaches did not do enough to stop the rough stuff from happening, and each head coach was given a suspension of two games, including the end of the current one being played, which ended up being a 4-2 Kahnawake victory.

That meant head coach Justin Kariwakeron Horne, who could not be reached for comment, was unable to coach the finals.

Stacey said that was certainly a factor in the 3-0 loss to Aylmer, along with playing two high-level games on the same day.

“The team they played in the first game on Sunday was probably one of the best teams that was in the tournament. They played some good hockey, but it was a very demanding game,” said Stacey. "It was non-stop action, a very good game. And then by the second game, the team seemed to have lost their energy.”

The U15A Mohawks still have one tournament left to play this year, along with continuing their regular season.

The Mohawks will play two home games at the Kahnawake Sports Complex this weekend. The first is Saturday, February 1, at 3 p.m. against the Lasalle Lions. The next day, they face off against the Lachine Rapids at 2 p.m.

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