Bears appear primed for more championships
The University of Alberta Golden Bears didn’t just win a record 16th national hockey championship, they did it with one of the youngest U Sports rosters ever to hoist the University Cup.
And as they returned to Edmonton triumphant with the hardware in hand, named last week after former governor general of Canada David Johnston, there was a sense this could be just the beginning for this group, and that there’s still more to come.
After all, the Bears followed up a conference-leading 23-4-1 record by winning the Canada West title on their way to coming out on top at the nationals in Fredericton, all while having just one player in his fifth and final year of eligibility.
Given that the majority of the roster is made up of first- and second-year players, who found ways to make an impact throughout the season, next year’s defending champions will likely look incredibly familiar.
And the year after that, and the year after that.
“That’s amazing. It is looking bright,” said head coach Serge Lajoie.
“They matured a lot last year. It must have stuck with them, what they saw last year at nationals. We were really hoping to get out of the quarter-finals and give them even more experience.
“But, as it turned out, we watched the final with UNB (University of New Brunswick) and how hard they worked, and Saskatchewan, a team that we had beaten. I think they thought to themselves, ‘We can be there.’ ”
Aside from Jamie Crooks, there is a chance the Bears could also lose fourth-year defenceman Dylan Bredo — who showed his versatility by moving up to centre in the postseason — to graduation.
“He has the opportunity, because he’s done school, to look at what pro opportunities might be out there,” Lajoie said of the business student. “For sure, Crooks. Potentially Bredo, but our core group is coming back.”
And as long as their grades hold up, of course, the other 25 players from this year’s roster will be fully eligible to defend the Cup in 2019.
“They only lose one guy next year and they’re going to be that much better with all the experience that they’ve gained,” said Crooks.
“I don’t know who they’re going to bring in or if they even have to bring in anybody.
“That’s the thing about this program: they always find ways to rebuild and bring in guys for the guys that have left.”
Fittingly enough, Crooks scored Alberta’s last goal of the season in what goes down as his final university game, hustling for an emptynetter in the final minute to seal the victory against X and, thus, closing the chapter on his university career with the one team he’s spent the most time with his entire life.
“Yeah, in junior I would have been on, technically, the same team for four years,” said Crooks, who started out in Chilliwack before the WHL Bruins relocated to Victoria in 2011.
And now, he’s leaving the exact same way he arrived to the university level, having won a championship in both of his first two seasons with the Bears under then-head coach Ian Herbers.
But this was Lajoie’s turn to add his name to the program’s long list of championship coaches, after seeing his Bears bounced from contention in the opening round of nationals his first two years at the helm.
“You don’t want to be the guy who lets the program down, so to speak,” Lajoie said. “When I took over from Ian Herbers, he had two (national championships). Clare Drake, Bill Moores, Rob Daum, Eric Thurston. And, for me, it’s obviously a great sense of accomplishment, a sense of pride, a bit of relief.
“It’s lofty expectations at the U of A. We always go to a national championship to win gold, so I’m very happy for the players, the program and the coaching staff.”