Senior C title slips away despite Jagow’s four goals

By David McIver

Despite four goals by Jared Jagow, a team bolstered by a returning minor pro and two former AAA Redwings defeated the Rosetown Redwings here on Tuesday for the senior C provincial hockey championship.

Cheered on throughout by a large and vocal group of fans, the Shaunavon Badgers beat the Redwings 6-4.

Rosetown Redwings crowd the crease in the dying minutes against the Shaunavon Badgers on Tuesday. Cam MacDonald battles in front of Badgers defenceman Dyson Stevenson (26) as Kane Dubé and Kyle Ireland (back to camera) tangle with Tyler Logan (24) and another defender. Shaunavon won 6-4 to claim the Saskatchewan senior C championship. Photo by David McIver

The Badgers had also won Game 1 in the best-of-three final series 6-0 in Shaunavon on March 14. The Redwings had played the Dodsland Stars the night before and were missing captain and leading scorer Jordan Johnston. Johnston was coaching a team that won the U11 A female provincial league championship in Estevan that weekend.

In Rosetown, the Badgers led 2-1 and 5-3 by periods.

Jagow scored in each period and twice in the second, with Kyle Ireland assisting three times.

One apparent first-period Redwing goal was waved off because of a gloved pass.

Tyson Goffinet had a hat trick for the Badgers. Former AAA Redwings and brothers from the Shaunavon area, J.J. Hunter and Luke Hunter, each scored, as did Kain Stevenson.

Tyler Logan had three assists.

Redwing goalie Noah Martens made 36 saves.

Badger netminder Cole Cadieux turned back 21 Redwing shots.

The Badger fan support was notable. People, whether they arrived on a fan bus or in personal vehicles, seemed to rival the Redwing fans in numbers. Someone banged a drum through much of the action, and the cheers and chants sounded much like a British soccer crowd.

In Shaunavon, Dyson Stevenson had a goal and three assists. J.J. Hunter, Goffinet, Tanner Kendall, Corey Bailey and Tanner Tetrault scored. Luke Hunter had two assists. Shots on goal were not available.

Martens and Cadieux minded their respective nets.

“It was not the outcome we wanted. The Redwings played well. Shaunavon also has a strong team,” said Redwing coach Curtis MacDonald.

“Our guys played their hearts out, and it wasn’t the outcome we wanted,” said MacDonald. A few players likely have bumps and bruises, but “everyone’s giving one hundred per cent,” he said, adding that he was “so proud of the group and how we played.”

The Badgers are a good team and sometimes games come down to a few bounces, said Johnston.

“That’s the way the game of hockey goes sometimes,” said Jagow. “Sometimes you score and sometimes you don’t, and sometimes you lose. Sometimes luck goes your way and sometimes it doesn’t.”

The Badgers had only one loss in the season. “It was bad, too, 6-0,” to the hometown Assiniboia Rebels in the first provincial round, said Lorne Hunter, the brothers’ father. The Badgers, who had beaten the Rebels 5-3 in the first game, then walloped them 8-1 in Shaunavon and went on to defeat the Craik Warriors 7-2 and 7-1 to reach the final.

The Badgers, who celebrated their 100th anniversary during the season just past, have played in the Whitemud Hockey League for several years but had not entered provincial playoffs since about 2017, said player Greg Coburn.

This Badger playoff team was put together by Dyson Stevenson, who had returned from a career in minor professional hockey in North America and Europe, said Coburn.

Stevenson convinced him, the Hunters, Jordi Thomas, Tanner Tetrault and Kevin Hardin to come out of retirement, said Coburn, who had not played in five years.

The 2012-13 season was the last time the Hunter brothers played here as AAA Redwings, said J.J. Hunter. Some of those who photographed the brothers did so shooting upward to get in the background the two senior AAA banners won when they were on those Redwing teams.

Since then, they had concentrated on farming and their musical career with brothers Dusty, Brock and Ty.

“Luke and I had always joked about making one last (provincial playoff) run if the younger guys came back. As the years went on, it seemed less and less likely.

“When Dyson came back, he started calling us in the summertime, so we started talking, ‘Oh, would it be possible?’ ...”

“There’s a few reasons why it would be great to come back and a lot of reasons that I can think why it wouldn’t,” said J.J. Hunter. “It’s been a lot of fun and it’s been a joy being part of this group.”

Another thing has been “seeing the town rally around what we’re doing. It’s just been a lot of fun and (I’m) proud of the guys and it’s an honour to be part of it again.”

The brothers are touring less this year and know they must balance that with family time.

So was this foray back into provincial hockey playoffs the last time?

“We’re not thinking about that yet. We were focused on this year and we’ll see what happens. But there’s a lot of other things going on in life as well, with our families and music. We love to be a part of it with these guys and the community. We’ll see how the summer goes.

“If this was the last year, it was a joy to go out this way and if anything else comes, we’ll take it as it comes.”