The 2015-16 Season for the Pee Wee B Laval Express Mistral has been an exceptional year. The team played 49 games (in regular season and tournament) giving them a record of 36 wins, 9 loses and 4 ties and four banners under their name.
The Mistral team surpassed all expectations of the parents and coaches.
In December, the team played in the Laval Tournament where they were finalist in the Yvon Chartrand Tournament giving them their first banner.
In January, the team was selected to play at the Esso minor hockey Festival at the Bell Center where they played against Drummondville Voltigeurs and tied 1-1.The experience of playing at the Bell Center was phenomenal and one that the team and parents will never forget. Â At the end of January the team played in the Ste. Therese Tournament where the team played with heart and soul beating the Ambassadeur de CLL 4-3 to win the tournament. This gave them a second banner this time finishing as the champions of the tournament.
The Mistral team finished the regular season in first place giving them a third banner as the season Champions.
The regional playoffs finals took place on April 3rd, at the Guimond arena where the Laval Express Mistral team beat Monteuil Blizzards 5-2 this gave them the title of regional champions.
Following the regional final the team gets some bad news before heading to the inter-regional game their regular goalie has a prescheduled trip out of town that cannot be cancelled and their back up goalie is not available to fill in. The team is in a dilemma because the hockey rules prevent a team from calling up another goalie that is not on their call up list. Therefore, the team has no choice but to use a player as a goalie. The next day Matias and Peter tell the coach that they want to be goalie. In the end, Peter becomes the team’s goalie. With two days to go before the tournament starts, the team rents the goalie equipment and schedules a practice for Tuesday and Wednesday.
With a two hour, practice under his belt our new goalie heads to Trois Riviere for his first game. On Thursday, the team faces the winner of Montreal division. Pumped with anticipation and nerves knowing that they have to protect their goalie the team plays with determination and they win 4-3 against the Montreal Pioneers. The next day with their confidence up, they face the winner of Outaouais. At the end of the first period, we are losing 1-0. The team comes back in the second period to tie the game. Finally, in the third period the team rallies together and they win the game 4-1 against the Patriotes. On Saturday, the team has to win in order to advance in the tournament. The Mistral find themselves playing against the Albatros from Mauricie, the hometown favourites. At the beginning of the game the Mistral come out strong and take a 2-1 lead at the end of the first period. In the second period the Albatros battle back and tie the game 2-2. In a fluke situation the Albatros score leading 3-2. Still fuelled with determination the Mistral battle back but time was not on their side and they lose 3-2.
The team that started the tournament with a goalie that had 2 hours of practice time and turns around and wins 2 out of 3 games is nothing short of showing what determination, team spirit and a love of the sport can do. Wow this really was a great year for this team.
This season the Mistral team won four banners for Laval Express Association. In the upcoming weeks, the banners will be hung up in the Cartier arena for a Fantastic season by a special team. Go Mistal Go!
