So about that thing where Yellowknife can't withstand the force of AAA hockey: that narrative is crumbling, one tournament at a time.
You've read about how the Wolfpack peewees went down to Vernon and very nearly pulled out the win against some of the best AAA teams in western Canada in a tournament that is as exclusive as you can get. So exclusive that you only get in if your application is approved.
Now, that will rub the participation brigade the wrong way but such is the upper echelon of sport. The organizers of the Coca-Cola Classic are upfront about it: only the best get to play in their tournament and you have to convince them in order to be allowed to play. Brad Anstey, who coaches the peewee Wolfpack, applied with the premise that the team may not win a game but they'll work hard.
I'll admit – if I see that on an application, I would normally bypass it. Applications like that are normally submitted by teams that know they aren't good enough and "want a challenge."
This is a Brad Anstey team, though. If you know how he coaches his teams, you'll know he's a graduate of the Dan Schofield School of Success. Translation: this team is well-oiled, will work hard and will upset a few apple carts along the way, no matter how you react to your pallet of Granny Smiths being tipped arse over teakettle.
I'm not surprised that they didn't get blown out of the barn but what surprised me is that they blew some of their opposition out of the barn. 10-1 against Calgary and 9-1 over Sherwood Park. A reminder: these are AAA teams, teams that are playing for north of eight months a year with some summer hockey thrown in for good measure because that's how they roll in the south.
Imagine how those Wolfpack players felt knowing they were knocking off teams that were supposed to use them as target practice and statistic improvement. A younger James McCarthy would get a shot of over-confidence and think that this was easier than advertised.
That's why I don't coach.
Anstey, though, would have kept these kids grounded, foot on the gas pedal (never leaving it, more like it) and full bore to the end. A 10-1 win is great but when you're playing in a tournament like this one, there's a very good chance you'll end up on the wrong end of a similar result should you relax for a second. Confidence blown in one fell swoop.
One thing Anstey said made me think for a second or six, though: we are, by process of elimination, a AAA town. Sure, the Wolfpack will enter A or AA tournaments because that's the level we think we can play. Nothing wrong with that because we don't have the luxury of sending our teams on the road every weekend to play in tournaments. Costly venture when you live North of 60 and as much as some public service jobs pay, it would still be a fool's errand to think it would be sustainable.
So why not enter more AAA tournaments? Nothing is stopping us from doing so. It isn't like we have a system in the North that forbids a team from jumping up a division, such as is the case in the south. The Greater Toronto Hockey League has widely been considered the best minor hockey league in North American for a long time and has produced many NHL stars. It has a tiered system and you can't jump up unless the league executive approves.
We don't have that problem here. We don't have a league structure like that. We have the Yellowknife Minor Hockey Association. That's the only thing standing in the way of a team entering a tournament. More often than not, the coaches make the decision on where to travel and the coaches pick out where they think they can competitive.
As I said before, Anstey is a Dan Schofield-type coach. Schofield always looked for competition where he could make some noise and Anstey is the same way. Don't think for one second Anstey would have put that application in the mail without thinking he wouldn't be competitive. He's not a stupid man. If he knew his players wouldn't be able to cope with AAA, he wouldn't have applied, plain and simple.
My personal hope is that AAA hockey becomes a regular thing for Yellowknife teams. Greg Hopf tried with the NWT North Stars program and it's too bad that didn't catch on.
It's a natural progression up the ladder for the Wolfpack. I can remember the early days when the Wolfpack would go to house-league select tournaments in the south to get experience. The next step up was A tournaments, which happened for a few years, and then AA tournaments. Anstey was one of the first coaches to take a Wolfpack outfit to a AA tournament and they're now becoming regular occurrences.
I hope AAA tournaments become a regular occurrence as well because these players deserve to see what top-level hockey looks like.