Mohawks win championship thriller
After a long, up-and-down season, the U15B Mohawks are Eastern Hockey League (EHL) champions. Courtesy Kahnawake Minor Hockey Association
Donald Horne has been coaching many of the kids who play for the U15B Mohawks ever since they first started playing in the Kahnawake Minor Hockey Association (KMHA).
“I’ve been coaching my son (Kirk Horne), so I’ve been with some of them for a while now, and some years we’ve had we weren’t very competitive. This year was one of the best years we’ve had, so it was good to see them get a chance to win,” said Horne.
That chance came last Friday at Scotty Bowman Arena in Verdun, as the Mohawks faced off against the Lachine Castors in their Eastern Hockey League (EHL) finals.
Kahnawake did not have the start of the game it wanted, though.
“We actually got off to a slow start, we were trailing 3-1 after the first period,” said Horne.
Between periods, his co-coach, Colin Rice - who had coached the team while Horne was unavailable to start the playoff run - tried to fire the team up to come back strong.
“I give a lot of credit to Colin for coaching, and getting the team going in the playoffs,” said Horne.
What Rice said worked, and the Mohawks found themselves tied with the Castors 5-5 towards the end of the third period.
Lachine took two penalties, putting Kahnawake on a five-on-three powerplay. It was time to capitalize.
“We called a time out, and we put our best players out there,” said Horne.
Almost immediately, Kahnawake scored the go-ahead goal, courtesy of Rowan Diabo, his second of the game at that point.
Still on the five-on-four powerplay, Diabo added his third to complete the hat-trick and give the Mohawks an insurance goal.
With about a minute-and-a-half left, it was Lachine’s turn for a five-on-three powerplay. With the faceoff in the Mohawks’ zone, they pulled their goalie for the extra skater, meaning Lachine had double the number of skaters that Kahnawake did.
But all it took was one skater, Amonte Horn, to put the game away thanks to a defensive zone faceoff win followed by the empty netter, his second of the game.
“Everyone was jumping around and high-fiving at that point. We knew we were going to win,” said Horne. “They were counting down the seconds, and as soon as the game ended, everyone jumped on the ice to celebrate with our goaltender, Olivia Meloche, it was amazing to watch.”
The day after the game, a parade was organized in town for the champions. Courtesy Lou Ann Stacey
Clutch saves by Meloche sealed the deal, and Kahnawake were U15B champions.
“It was a really good comeback. Everyone played so hard, it was a really exciting game. At the end, emotionally, I was spent, but so excited that the team prevailed. It was such a good moment for everyone, after a long season for us,” said Horne.
“It feels good to win especially because we had a rough start at the beginning of the season,” said Meloche.
Horne echoed her sentiment on the catharsis of winning after a tough start to the season.
That changed when they added three players to the team: Horn, Alyssa Rice, and Kaientoton Charles, who their coach said helped the team tremendously down the stretch.
“They pushed us over the edge. They’re very good players themselves, so it really helped,” said Horne.
Ryder McComber, who scored twice against the Castors, said that the championship win is something he won’t soon forget.
“It feels great, I’m extremely happy for my team and coaching staff. It was a very memorable game. I’ll never forget this. It’s an amazing accomplishment, it meant everything to be bringing the win back to Kahnawake,” said McComber.
Horne said that the team, together, brought home the win - although the powerplay unit scored the winning goal, it could not have happened without everyone.
“Everyone felt like they’re part of the team. The camaraderie that we had this year on the team was great,” Horne said.
Victory celebrations
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The Mohawks did bring that win back to Kahnawake by having a parade around town the following Saturday, thanks to some last-minute organizing by some parents and with the help of Kerry Goodleaf - father of U15B Mohawk Korry Goodleaf - and his truck and trailer.
“We had two of our two banners hanging from the trailer, and all the players signed it,” said Horne, who added that they should be up at the Sports Complex soon.
Despite the gloomy weather, people from the community came to cheer on the victorious U15B Mohawks.
“The parade on Saturday was really fun, and it was really nice that they organized that and informed the whole town,” said Meloche.
