Hapnot upset the party at their cross-border rivals’ hometown tournament last week, winning the Kit Classic in Creighton. The senior varsity Kweens beat the hosts en route to a first-place finish.
In three-team pool play, the Kweens faced off against Cranberry Portage’s Frontier Collegiate Raiders and the Margaret Barbour Collegiate (MBCI) Spartans from The Pas. Hapnot took victories against both teams, earning a spot in the semifinals with a first-place finish in their pool.
Meanwhile, the host Kodiaks finished second in their pool, losing to the Preeceville School Panthers but picking up a win against the Hudson Bay Composite High School Riders to earn their way in.
The first-place team in each pool would face the second-place team in the other pool - with Hapnot finishing first in theirs and Creighton finishing second in theirs, the stage was set for a semifinal border battle.
Hapnot took control of the game early on and while Creighton took over momentum in the second half, the Kweens held on, dumping the hosts from their own gym with a 49-30 win.
From there, the Kweens would face Preeceville in the finals and keep the title in the north, winning 59-30 against their southern opponents. Creighton ended the tournament in third place.
The Kweens won’t get much time to celebrate their win this week, though - Hapnot is hosting a tournament of their own this weekend, dubbed the Kopper Crown Classic Jan. 19-20. Both a senior varsity girls’ and boys’ tournament will be held at the school and at Ecole McIsaac School, featuring the Kodiaks in both draws.
Six teams will take part in the tournament - Hapnot and Creighton’s senior boys will face MBCI, the Oscar Lathlin Collegiate Ominacisak from Opaskwayak Cree Nation, Norway House’s Helen Betty Osborne Ininiw Education Resource Centre (HBOIERC) Huskies and the Peguis Central School Wolverines.
The girls’ tournament will feature the same teams, with one exception - instead of Peguis and MBCI, the Dauphin Regional Comprehensive Secondary School Clippers will head north to play, as well as Hapnot’s junior varsity girls’ team. The structure will remain the same - two three-team pools. The top teams from both pools will be drawn into the final game Saturday.
The tournament will start with both the Kings and Kweens in action Friday morning, with the Kings playing Peguis at 9:30 a.m. at Hapnot and the Kweens facing Oscar Lathlin at 11 a.m.
As of press time, the tournament is the last scheduled tournament for the three Hapnot teams playing until February - the Kings will play three tournaments next month leading up to zones, one each in Cranberry Portage, St. Boniface and Neepawa. The varsity Kweens will play in tournaments in Somerset and Warren, while the JV Kweens will play a tournament in The Pas next month. No tournaments are listed for the school’s JV Kings as of press time on the Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association (MHSAA) website.
