Hapnot Collegiate and Creighton Community School both took on all comers at a tournament in The Pas last weekend, picking up wins in the first major meet-up of the season.
The Bill McDonald Varsity Invitational tournament took place in The Pas Dec. 16-17, including draws for both senior boys’ and girls’ competition. Hosted by the Margaret Barbour Collegiate (MBCI) Spartans, each draw included eight teams, in a single-elimination tournament bracket. The rules were simple - win and you’ll continue to the tournament finals, lose and you go into the consolation bracket. Three straight wins would mean tournament glory - one loss would mean a missed chance.
In the girls’ draw, Hapnot and Creighton both won their opening-round games. The Kweens played the Oscar Lathlin Wolverines from OCN and picked up a 51-39 victory, while Creighton went more lopsided, delivering a 94-7 whooping to Moose Lake’s Frontier Mosakahiken Grizzlies.
With both teams making it through to the semifinals, the Kodiaks would play hosts MBCI, while the Kweens would face off against the biggest school by enrollment in the tournament, Thompson’s R.D. Parker Trojans. Creighton’s chances for top spot would be stopped in their tracks by the hosts, who played spoiler for an all-area title game by beating Creighton 57-46.
In Hapnot’s matchup, size wouldn’t benefit the Thompsonites - as the Kweens would take them down in a scratch-and-claw 45-41 game, sending the Kweens through to the final.
In the final, the Kweens would face the hosts and the game would be close, with the Spartans taking an early lead. Despite the setback, the Kweens would fight back and earn a 45-40 win, taking the tournament title and hoisting the Bill McDonald trophy.
Not to be outdone, the Kodiaks would go into the third-place game against the Trojans and hand them another L, this time beating Thompson 46-28 to snag a spot on the podium.
In the boys’ draw, the Kodiaks did not have the same luck, facing hosts MBCI in the opening round. Despite having a close game, the Spartans would eventually come out on top, winning 55-52 and sending the Kodiaks into the consolation round.
Hapnot had a better opening round fate, defeating the Hudson Bay Composite High School Riders 58-37 and moving the Kings into the tournament semifinals against the Porcupine Plain Bears.
Against a high-scoring Bears team, the Kings fell short in the semis, losing 86-52. That loss sent the Kings into the bronze medal game against the same MBCI team that knocked out the Kodiaks earlier in the draw.
The Kings avenged their cross-border rivals’ loss by beating the Spartans 59-45, picking up the bronze medal in the team’s first major tournament of the year.
The Kodiaks went into the consolation round following their initial loss, playing Norway House’s Helen Betty Osborne Ininiw Education Resource Centre (HBOIERC) Huskies and picking up a 59-5 win, setting up a consolation round final against Hudson Bay, who were sent into that round by Hapnot. The Kodiaks sent Hudson Bay their second set of regards from the north of the weekend, beating the Riders in a high-scoring 78-70 matchup and taking the consolation round title.
Up next will be a border battle Dec. 21, a pair of exhibition games for the Hapnot and Creighton senior teams at the Hapnot gym. The two high schools will play each other in two games, with the senior Kings and senior Kodiaks playing each other at 5 p.m. and the senior Kweens and senior Kodiaks facing off at 6:30 p.m. The school will be accepting donations of non-perishable food items for the Lord’s Bounty Food Bank.
The Hapnot JV and senior Kings will also be taking part in the Ste. Rose Celtics Invitational tournament Jan. 13-14.
The senior girls’ Kodiaks started their season with a tournament earlier this month in Norquay, Sask., winning against Kamsack 61-45 and missing out on a spot in the final with a narrow 45-44 loss to Rocanville. The club would salvage their podium hopes with a 48-26 W against Yorkton’s Sacred Heart Saints.
