F
or Peguis Juniors goaltender Luke Penner, the victory was
nothing short of awe inspiring.
In other words, nothing beats winning.
“It was amazing,” said Penner. “There were people all over the ice
afterwards and lots of fans took pictures with us. It was really cool
just to see the support that Peguis has for its hockey team and just
how much of a hockey community it really is.”
For Penner’s teammate, Tyler Woodhouse, winning a second
straight Keystone Junior B Hockey Championship was just about
as good as it gets.
“It was phenomenal winning in front of our home crowd in our
new facility. It was something that I’ll never forget,” said Wood-
house. “We have such great support, and I really do believe we have
the best fans in the league.”
The deciding victory, a 6-1 shellacking of the gutsy Arborg Ice
Dawgs, came in front of more than 2,000 ecstatic Juniors support-
ers at the Peguis Multiplex, the new arena that opened in 2014. Last
year’s KJHL title was clinched on the road, so two of the team’s
playoff stars, Woodhouse and Penner, say it was especially gratify-
ing to be able to celebrate this year’s championship with their home
fans.
In the finals, the Juniors defeated the Ice Dawgs in six games,
opening the series with a 5-3 win in Arborg on March 28 and then a
4-0 victory at home in Peguis two days later.
The Ice Dawgs bounced back with a 3-1 win in Arborg on April 1,
but then lost 3-2 when the series shifted back to Peguis on April 4.
On April 6, the Ice Dawgs clawed back to a 3-2 series deficit with
a 4-2 victory over the Juniors in Arborg, but two days later, Peguis
wrapped things up at home with their convincing 6-1 triumph to
claim the KJHL championship.
In order to get to the finals, the Juniors had to get past the Sel-
kirk Fishermen (the team Peguis swept in the KJHL
championship series last year) and the St. Malo
Warriors. Peguis defeated Selkirk three games
to one in the quarter-finals, and edged St.
Malo four games to three in their semi-final
matchup.
Arborg advanced to the final round by win-
ning all three of their quarter-final games
against the North Winnipeg Satellites and
then defeating OCN Storm four games to one
in the semi-finals.
Peguis coach Kevin Monkman
said his players had plenty of
confidence going into the
finals.
“They were fo-
cused. They knew
we could win,” he
said. “When we
stick
to
They were focused. They
knew we could win. When we stick to
the game plan, we’re a good hockey
team. And when we play disciplined,
we’re a good hockey team. So when
we can put both of those together
on a nightly basis, we get some good
results
the game plan, we’re a good hockey team. And when we play disci-
plined, we’re a good hockey team. So when we can put both of those
together on a nightly basis, we get some good results.
“Anytime you win a league title, it’s about getting hot at the right
time and making sure your team is ready going into the playoffs,”
Monkman added. “The guys believed in what we were doing, in the
systems we were playing, and they went out and executed them.”
Arborg coach Cody Didychuck called it a tightly contested se-
ries that might have gone the other way with a couple of Ice Dawg
bounces.
“We lost two