This year’s Midget Tier 2 Provincial championship team is losing five of its third-year players.
All of them were team leaders on the ice and in the dressing room, and all of them stepped up during the Provincial championship series and played some of their best hockey of the year.
Skating around the ice surface with the championship banner and gold medals was a great way to end the season – their last game in the Quesnel & District Minor Hockey Association.
Mike Wright
No. 91
Right Wing
The team captain says the Midget Tier 2 Provincial series was “incredible.”
He adds they went into the Provincials with realistic expectations because they played 500 during the season.
“We had played a couple of the teams and we felt the games would be close. We thought we were going to be in every game and wouldn’t get blown out.”
Mike says their big win against Port Moody, which was ranked first or second in the series along with Kamloops, gave them confidence.
“After we came back to beat them, everyone just switched and we knew it was doable.”
Highlight: “Coming out of the dressing room for the final game seeing how much support we had behind us – a big part of what carried us in that game.”
Mike says he’s going to school to get into forestry.
Stefan Tipold
No. 99
Left Wing
Stefan also thought they would be competitive, but didn’t think they would be able to win the championship.
After losing to Prince George in the playoffs, Stefan says it was great to have another shot at them in the championship finals.
“We always had bad blood with P.G. over the years – a big rivalry.
“So playing in the finals was kind of sweet and beating them was even sweeter.”
Stefan says all of the players were pretty close and that helped them out on the ice.
“I like playing the physical game. I think I excel the most with that. I get the odd goal here and there, but I like to bring energy to our team.”
Stefan says having this legacy of being Provincial Midget champions is surreal, and it’s something he’ll carry with him forever.
Coming out for the finals, Stefan says the boys were nervous and gripping their sticks, but having loud, cheering fans was great. “We really fed off the crowd.”
Highlight: “Throwing our gloves up in the air and skating around the arena with the banner.”
While he hasn’t completely decided what to do, Stefan says he might work next year.
Jacque Gilkerson
No. 18
D-Man
Jacque notes the Thunder didn’t have the good season they were hoping for and were ranked pretty low going into the Provincials.
“I was pretty nervous going into the tournament because I didn’t know how we were going to do against the other teams… they were first in their zones. I guess we showed ourselves how good we were.”
He agrees the team started slow in the first period.
“We were always a bit lackadaisical in the first and that came to bite us in the behind a couple of times.”
He also agrees the Thunder always have a great third period.
“I think we wear teams down as the game goes on. We’re a very physical team.
“We did a lot of conditioning in practice and I think that helped us win it in the long run. In those long games, we were pretty intense and physical and we were able to keep up the pace while other teams weren’t able to keep the pedal to the metal.”
Jacque agrees the team had some penalty issues, but as they moved along in the series, they were able to clean that up.
However, Jacque says there were times he thought he had to make a big hit.
“My teammates really stepped it up during the Provincials. They were really on fire. They made great plays; I thought it was really impressive.”
He played with the 100 Mile House Wranglers in the KIJHL for the first half of the season, but says he wanted to come back to Quesnel to play Midget hockey with his friends.
Jacque says having a legacy as a Provincial champion is a little overwhelming and “really cool.”
Highlight: “When the clock came down to zero seconds, looking around and everyone was celebrating. I couldn’t believe it and then it settled in that we just won provincials… to end my hockey career with a Provincial title….”
Jacque says he really doesn’t know what he’s going to do next season. “I may try Junior B again but I don’t know….”
Jakob Drapeau
No. 1
Goalie
Overall, Jakob says he thought the Provincials went pretty good.
“Our team came out strong from the beginning and didn’t have too many slow periods at all. We played well throughout the Provincial series week.
He says they picked up momentum as they played more games and the crowds got bigger.
“It was insane. I couldn’t believe how many people showed up, especially for the finals and we really fed off of that.
“It was so loud in there we could barely hear the whistle.”
Jakob has a keen ability to smother the puck in his chest and not give up big rebounds. He gets from one side of the net to the other very quickly – something he worked on a lot during a summer camp last summer – and was able to pick off pucks with lightning fast reflexes.
Jakob also went to the KIJHL’s Kamloops Storms spring and main camps and worked a lot on his reaction time on slap shots.
He joined the Thunder in October and says he was surprised at how good the Quesnel team was, and was happy to be here and thought the coaching was good, too.
Like the rest of the players, Jakob says it was amazing to come out for the championship game and having the arena packed with screaming and cheering fans.
“It was insane and really cool.”
Highlight: Jakob says beating Prince George, the team that released him last October, was pretty sweet. “It’s probably one of the best things that could have happened.”
Jakob says he would like to try out for a couple of Junior hockey teams – Prince George Spruce Kings or the Kamloops Storm. He’s also going contact a few college and university hockey teams.
Kaden Merritt
No. 16
Centre
Noting the Thunder got a berth in the Provincials because Quesnel hosted the event, Kaden says it isn’t often the host team wins the tournament.
It was amazing to play so well in our home town, he adds.
“We stuck together and we never doubted each other. We stayed together as a team and eventually we won the championship.”
“In the finals, we got that 2-0 lead in the first period. We were in the dressing room and thinking “we can do this; this is ours.
“Our coach gave us a good talk saying ‘stay together as a team, don’t doubt each other, we can do this’.”
Noting they scored two power-play markers, he says it’s the best power play they had all year.
Highlight: Kaden scored the first goal, which is always important, and then he notched the winning goal in the third period.
“It was amazing … most incredible feeling in my life. The crowd was roaring.”
Kaden has been invited to try out for the Princeton Posse in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL).