National champion.
Cochrane’s Devon Fordyce can now add that tidbit to his resume.
The Brooks Bandits backup goalie returned from the RBC Cup national Junior A hockey championship in Summerside, P.E.I., to a hero’s welcome May 21 in Brooks.
The Bandits defeated host Summerside Western Capitals of the Maritime Hockey League 3-1 May 19 to win the title.
“We had a big parade,” Fordyce said. “It was amazing to see all the people who came out and how much this town supports the team. It was really amazing. It was good to see everyone so excited about what we’d accomplished.”
The Bandits’ pursuit of the RBC Cup opened with 53 wins in the 2012-13 Alberta Junior Hockey League regular season, with just four losses and three overtime losses.
The Bandits then claimed the league’s Gas Drive Cup April 19 with a 4-1 series win over Spruce Grove, earning them a trip to Nanaimo for the April 27-May 5 Crescent Point Energy Western Canada Cup.
Brooks lost the Western Canada Cup final game 4-1 to the Surrey Eagles of the B.C. Hockey League, but advanced to the RBC Cup tournament with a 1-0 consolation-round win May 5 over the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s Yorkton Terriers.
“We kept having a great season, rolled through playoffs, had a good Western Canada Cup, made it to RBC and won it there.”
While Fordyce’s playing time was limited – he mopped up for starter Michael Frederick in a 7-2 loss to Nanaimo April 28 at Westerns – he was more than glad to play his role.
“I got in for about half a game against Nanaimo,” the 19-year-old graduate of Bow Valley High School related. “Sometimes you just have to take the back seat and just be a team player and roll with it.”
The national Junior A title wraps up Fordyce’s season that started in the Western Hockey League (WHL) with the Prince George Cougars. Fordyce went to Brooks in late October awaiting a trade to another WHL team. When that didn’t happen, he stayed in Brooks. The WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds have picked up his rights, so he’ll be at their training camp in the fall.
“I’m hoping to go down there and get a spot,” Fordyce enthused. “Being one of the No. 1 guys is my ideal situation going there. They have the openings for it. I think with the summer and some good, hard work and lots of training that I should be able to take that. That’s what I’m hoping for and pushing for.”
