The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Submitted by Coach Craig McIntosh The weekend of Nov. 22 the Hapnot Kings Sr. Boys Volleyball team achieved a feat 29 years in the making. Not since 1983 has Hapnot Collegiate won a Provincial banner for volleyball _ which made last weekend so sweet! The Kings finished second against the best AAA teams the province had to offer. We have had much success in the North over the past 10 years winning five Zone 11 banners, but a top five finish at provincials has proven to be quite elusive. It has been a tough journey for these kids as the road for them is much steeper than kids down South. We don't have the luxury of playing in the club system all year round and we don't have top level competition 20 minutes away. If you put it all into perspective, placing at provincials is a very tall order for any northern team to achieve. The season started late in August with tryouts and a camp put on by the national team coach Scott Koskie. It was a struggle to get nine players out so it is a stretch to call them 'try outs' but we ended up with a small group that was committed and ready to start the three month season. Our weeks consisted of four-two-hour practices and extra sessions in the morning and at lunch. Encouraging It was very encouraging that many of these players were willing to put in the extra effort to compete at the highest AAA level. The season started with a tournament victory at pre-zones in Thompson on the September 22 weekend. This was followed up with major tournaments in Portage La Prairie, Brandon, and Dauphin. During these tournaments we were able to compete successfully against the majority of the top 10 teams in the province. Throughout these weeks we developed a quiet sense of confidence and an understanding between us that anything was possible this year. We carried this confidence in to the Zone 11 Championships _ September 9 and 10 _ and went undefeated. Our sights were now set on the Provincial Championships two weeks away. The Provincial Championships were held in Ille de Chenne, just south of Winnipeg November 22-24. We went in ranked seventh and had a tough pool with Springs Christian, Neelin, Gabriel Roy, Dauphin, and Windsor Park. Our round robin results were as follows: vs Dauphin 25-23 win, 11-25 loss, 15-8 win vs Neelin 17-25 loss, 18-25 loss vs Springs Christian 23-25 loss, 25-20 win, 10-15 loss vs Windsor Park 25-13 win, 25-12 win Our record was 2-2, which put us in third place in pool A going into the playoffs. Saturday, we played in the Quarter Finals against Sanford and won the match 25-17 win, 21-25 loss, 15-7 win. This win put us in the semifinals against Neelin. We knew we were in tough as they had beat us two straight in the round robin. At the same time, we knew we had a spot in the top four. We had nothing to lose. We won the match 20-25 loss, 25-20 win, 17-15 win. The third game came down to a final serve by Sam Kinsley, which caught the line and was initially called out by the head referee _ but in by the linesman and down referee. After the longest 10 seconds ever the point was awarded to us _ and then the emotions really started to kick in. See 'Amazing...' on pg.5 Continued from pg.4 We were going to the finals. The final match was between us and the home town Gabriel Roy. The atmosphere was amazing. Small town. Small gym _ tons of people and loud! We had to enjoy the moment but, at the same time, we had to play every point as if it were the last. After we played through the initial jitters in the first set 16-25 loss, we settled in and won the next one 25-19. The Championship match came down to the third set. We played hard but came up short 11-15 loss. This experience was overwhelming for all of us _ we will never forget it! Assistant coach Doug Gawiak came out to the court three years ago to help. After his years on the court, Gawiak has announced his retirement. He brought experience and a perspective to the team that will be missed next season. This year's Senior Kings Volleyball team was made up of Grade 12 players Sam Kinsley, Garrett Whitford, Luke Holubec, Chris Benko, Tristan Bryson, and Riley Rachuk. We will be seeing much more of Blake Wallaker, Max Leclerc, and Brett Muench as they will be returning next year. Kinsley and Whitford were two of the six players selected for the All-Star tournament. Kinsley was approached personally by the head coach of the University of Winnipeg and also had interest from the universities in Brandon and Regina. This is a great achievement for any athlete playing high school sports in Northern Manitoba. Kinsley proved to be a great captain who led by example and with emotion.
