Greatness awaits the St. Albert Slash.
An unprecedented third consecutive Esso Cup national championship would solidify the Slash status as something special.
“We can leave a lasting legacy for not only the Slash club but for Hockey Alberta itself,” defenceman Kiah Vail told the Gazette at the team’s last practice Wednesday before heading to nationals in Sudbury, Ont.
“We can do it if we want it and it’s going to be our will that’s going to get us there,” Vail said. “Everyone needs to be playing for each other and the logo in front of their jerseys.”
The Slash – 13-1 in the last two Esso Cups – stands alone among the contenders at the six-team competition.
“We’re the team to beat. Nobody wants us to three-peat of course,” Vail said.
The Slash set the standard for superiority as the first team to go undefeated at the Esso Cup, the first Alberta team to win the championship and the first team to repeat in the tournament’s 10-year history.
“Every team knows who we are because we’ve kind of built up a reputation,” said centre Alexis Butz. “It’s good. It means that other teams respect what we’ve done.”
Living up to the hype has been a season-long challenge for the Slash – 32-3-1 (144 GF/33 GA) overall with nine veterans from last year’s 34-11-1 lineup as Hockey Alberta’s Team of the Year featuring the original five from the 38-4-1 champions in 2017.
“Pressure is definitely something we’ve had in all of our games. Everyone wants to beat us and at Esso it will be the same thing,” said right-winger Bronwyn Boucher.
As for the high expectations surrounding the Slash, “It’s definitely exciting. Everyone is ready to redeem our title and kick butt,” Boucher said.
The first test in the round-robin draw is Sunday against As de Quebec.
“It’s going to be nerve-wracking, especially for the first-years because it’s the first game at Esso and it’s going to be new for us,” Boucher said. “We definitely want to try our hardest and start off the tournament on a good foot.”
Newcomers like Boucher have been briefed by the veterans about what the Esso Cup is all about.
“One thing they mentioned is you totally get treated like royalty there. It’s also definitely something you never forget and it’s just a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Some of the girls on our team were lucky enough to have more than one of those opportunities so hopefully this won’t be our last year going,” said Boucher, who spent last season with the bantam elite St. Albert Raiders.
Monday the Slash plays the host Sudbury Wolves, followed by games against the Saskatoon Stars (West) Tuesday, Halifax Fire (Atlantic) Wednesday and Stony Creek Sabres (Ontario) Thursday.
The top four teams in the round robin qualify for Friday’s semifinals and the medal finals are Saturday.
“It’s a whole week of focusing on hockey. You can’t goof around. You’ve got to stay focused on what you’re there for,” said Butz, who made her Esso Cup debut last year. “We’re taking it really seriously. We’re preparing and making sure we’re ready because the skill you’re competing against is a lot higher than what you were against all year.
“Every shift counts. You don’t want to get down a goal, you always want to stay in control of the game.”
The Stars are looming large as a major threat for the Slash after losing last year’s final 2-1. The setback ended a 24-game winning streak that included a 4-1 decision over the Slash in the round robin.
With 13 returnees on the roster this season, the Stars racked up 149 goals while winning 27 of their 28 regular-season games, including the first 20 in a row.
The Stars also qualified for their fourth Esso Cup in five years and were bronze medallists in 2015 and finished fourth in 2016.
“The Saskatoon Stars want revenge for last year and we’ll definitely take it to them and play our hearts out,” said Boucher, 16.
So why are the Slash too good to be true?
“It’s our speed. We’re one of the fastest teams in our league and in Canada probably even,” said Boucher, a Grade 10 St. Albert Catholic High School student. “We’re all so tightly knitted as a family, too. Our trust in each other is insane.”
Butz, 17 agreed. “We really have trust in each other since we are a family. We all work hard and we want to do it for each other more than for ourselves,” said the Grade 11 Archbishop Jordan High School student.
Vail, 17, believes the Slash’s steely resolve will be the difference in three-peating.
“We’re really going to need to pull together as a team and really bond during our days that we’re at Esso because it’s going to take everyone to do it,” said the Grade 12 Strathcona High School student. “This is the highest level that any of us will ever experience at this age and this year even more it’s going to be the hardest Esso Cup we’ve ever had. This year all the teams there were at the top of their leagues and they’re strong.
“It’s a game a day at Esso and it seems like you get a lot of breaks, but honestly it's exhausting. It’s not only the effort that you are putting out there on the ice, it’s the mental preparation for the games, like sticking with it and being totally focused for those seven days that you are there at Esso and that’s also tiring, too.”
The Slash continued their winning brand of hockey with dogged determination.
“This year we’re a little bit grittier,” said Vail, a returnee who played for the midget AAA Edmonton Pandas in 2016-17 after two bantam seasons with the Edmonton Lightning. “Last year we had a lot of talent and this year we’re a fast-skating, hard-working team so if we play our game, that full 60 minutes, we’ll be able to dominate.
“Last year we kind of had key players that really performed for us in certain moments, but we played all 20 when we needed to and that’s how we beat Saskatoon the second time. We needed every single player and we needed to roll four lines,” Vail added. “This year we’re going to be better able to roll all four lines because we’re deeper than last year.”
Canada Games
Vail’s season to remember includes playing for the Northwest Territories at the Canada Winter Games in Red Deer.
“Honestly, it was quite a different experience for myself,” said Vail, who hails from Fort Smith, a small town near the Northwest Territories/Alberta border.
Vail’s parents also have residency in Fort Smith so she was eligible to try out for the U18 Alberta and Northwest Territories teams.
“We don’t a lot of population in the Northwest Territories, so we were barely able to make a team of 20 to go to Canada Games. I think we had something like two cuts so it ended up being we had 12-year-olds to 19-year-olds on our team and we had three overage players,” Vail said. “I was an assistant captain on the team and it really gave me an opportunity to step into that leadership role and I guess mentor and talk to some of the younger girls about my journey here. I started out in NWT, that’s where my roots are and that’s where I got my start playing boys’ hockey, so I was able to tell them there is other options out there and you can come south and play just like a couple of other girls on the team did as well.”
The Northwest Territories finished 11th with three wins, two against Yukon (and 7-1 and 5-2) and the 4-1 highlight against Newfoundland and Labrador in the preliminary round.
“We made history. This was probably the most successful team out of NWT ever. In all the other years we’ve never beaten a province, we’ve only ever beat Team Yukon, which is another territory, so when we beat Newfoundland, that was pretty big,” Vail said.
The Slash players on the gold-medal winning Alberta team were forwards’ Jaden Bogden, Isabelle Lajoie and Brooklyn Schroeder.
