The Sunshine Coast Atom A Blues finished their season on a high, bringing home both the league and playoff banners.
The team learned this year that hard work and dedication do indeed pay off.
Head Coach Paul Pipke and assistant coach Brad Wingfield made it clear from the start of the season that the players were going to work hard, learn a lot and give back to their community.
Since August the team has been on the ice a minimum of five times per week, attended a weekly dry land session at Valhalla Gym and also spent time writing in hockey journals reflecting on their play and what it means to be a team.
To strengthen their sense of team and community, the team performed service projects including a shoreline cleanup day, food drive and donating hampers and toys at Christmas time. Through all of their hard work, the team was supported on and off the ice by their coaches, assistant coaches Eoin Ross and Randy Tulk and manager Joanne McConnell.
The season started out slowly, as they struggled through some tough games in the placement round. As their regular league play started, the team began to find their stride and posted a record of 9-2-1 at the Christmas break.
After Christmas the wins continued and the team brought home the league banner in January with a regular season record of 15-2-1. In February, the team travelled to San Diego to participate in the California State Games, bringing back a bronze medal.
After returning home, the Blues got right back to practice in preparation for playoffs. They were seeded number one and played in the Final Four series, finishing with a 9-5 win over New Westminster at Queen’s Park Arena, where they won the playoff banner.
