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Springbank junior C hockey team wins provincial title

Springbank's junior C hockey team – known colloquially as the 'Pink Panties' – won the provincial Junior C championship in Sherwood Park on March 27.
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The Springbank Rockies junior C hockey team won the provincial title on March 27.

The Springbank Rockies junior C hockey team took their pink jerseys all the way to an Alberta provincial championship on March 27.

The U21 team capped off a winning weekend in Sherwood Park by claiming the provincial crown for the junior C division, beating the Beaumont Buccaneers 4-1 in the gold-medal game.

“It’s an incredible feeling,” said Mark Connors, the Rockies’ head coach. “It’s a grind – five hard-fought games in three days that start Friday night and end on Sunday night. As always, the Edmonton teams are big and tough. They want to win as well – and they have done, for the past 15 years. It was a great accomplishment for this team to pull off the wins and get to the final.”

Springbank’s route to the knockout stage was paved with a 3-3 tie against the Gibbons Broncos on March 25, a 4-3 win over Beaumont, and an 8-3 defeat against the host Sherwood Park Renegades on March 26, in the round robin stage of the tournament.

The Rockies’ semi-final saw them rematch with the Renegades on March 27, and the Springbankers were able to come out on top this time, winning 5-4 to book a berth in the final against the Bucanneers later that evening.

According to Connors, even though the Rockies’ three-goal victory in the gold-medal game proved fairly decisive, he added the game was closer than the final score indicated – the teams were tied 0-0 after the first period and 1-1 after the second, before Springbank put the game to bed in the final stanza.

“So the third period was wide open and we pulled it off, even with injuries and fatigue,” he said.

The added adversity was nothing new for the Rockies, according to Connors, who said coping with injuries proved a constant theme for the entire 2021-22 season.

“We had six guys who were injured in some respect, including two who couldn’t dress in the final,” he said. “That sucked, but that’s the way the game goes.”

Forwards Guillermo Salazar and Jack Demo were Springbank’s top offensive producers throughout the provincial tournament. Salazar scored four goals and added three assists in the Rockies’ five games, while Demo added a trio of both goals and assists.

But even though those two were generating the most offence, Connors said the victorious weekend was a full-group effort.

“I always preached to the boys that we need to work as a team and not as individuals,” he said. “I think we came together as a cohesive unit in the end and that was the difference. We had 19 dressed skaters who came together. It’s hard to beat 20 guys when the other team potentially play a little more individualistic.”

Connors said Springbank’s junior C team’s roster demographics were “a mixed bag,” this season, with four overage 21-year-olds and a combination of 18, 19, and 20-year-olds. He added the team attracts players from across Springbank and western Calgary communities, and he expects a good deal of players to return to tryouts next fall.

'Pink Panties' legacy lives on

While the Springbank Minor Hockey Association’s teams are all called the Rockies, Connors noted the association’s junior C team is colloquially known as the Pink Panties.

The unusual moniker is the result of a lasting legacy that sees the players raise money every season to support breast cancer research. According to Connors, the team started sporting pink jerseys several years ago as a show of solidarity toward one of the players, whose relative was diagnosed with breast cancer.

“It goes back 20 or more years,” he said. “From what we understand, someone’s mom or someone involved with the team had breast cancer, and the team decided to wear pink in respect. That’s where the name came from and the legacy just continued through Springbank. We do fundraisers for cancer research and wear the pink out of respect for those who are gone.”

The players continued the tradition in 2021-22, wearing their pink-and-white jerseys in every game and raising $2,000 to support cancer research. Connors said Canoe Financial was able to leverage that donation and triple it to $6,000.

The head coach added he was even more proud of the team's philanthropic spirit than he was of their on-ice achievements this year.

“As much as the win is there for provincials – and the team won cities as well – I think donating $6,000 with their name on it is a huge accomplishment for these young men,” he said. “Hopefully it helps find a cure for cancer so none of these boys have to lose a mom, a sister, or a friend.

“I think that’s why the Pink Panties legend lives on.”

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