PEISAA 2024 Mens Ball Hockey Championship

PEISAA 2024 Mens Ball Hockey Championship

Semi-final 1: Charlottetown Rural High School 1 – 5 Colonel Gray Senior High School

Semi-final 2: Three Oaks Senior High 4 – 2 Montague Regional High School

Bronze Medal: Montague Regional High School 3 – 1 Charlottetown Rural High School

Gold Medal: Three Oaks Senior High 3 – 0 Colonel Gray Senior High School

PEISAA BALL HOCKEY: Axemen add another title

Jason Simmonds · Journalist 

The Three Oaks Axemen are the kings of the P.E.I. School Athletic Association (PEISAA) Senior AAA Boys Ball Hockey League.

The Axemen defeated the Charlottetown-based Colonel Gray Colonels 3-0 in the gold-medal game, played before a good-sized crowd at The Plex at Slemon Park on June 6.

“It’s definitely very exciting,” said the Axemen’s Lincoln Waugh, who was named the most valuable player of the provincial championship playoffs. “We had a lot of young team last year; a lot of Grade 11s, and getting all these returning guys this year, it was exciting to win with them again.”

Resumé

This year’s championship marked two in a row and three in the last four years for the Axemen.

“Getting to play ball hockey, because it’s after the hockey season, and getting to be part of a school culture team is pretty awesome.” – Lincoln Waugh

“It’s definitely a fun sport,” said the 18-year-old Waugh, who played the last two seasons with the Summerside D. Alex MacDonald Ford Western Capitals of the Maritime Junior Hockey League (MHL) and is a draft pick of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League’s Cape Breton Eagles.

“For some of the guys on the team, we play a high level of hockey and don’t get to play too many school sports throughout the year. Getting to play ball hockey, because it’s after the hockey season, and getting to be part of a school culture team is pretty awesome.”

Backgrounds

Three Oaks head coach Sean MacDonald said one of the neat things about high school ball hockey is the players do not have to be exceptional ice-hockey players.

“There are kids who play at all levels, from major junior to house league to kids who do not play (ice) hockey,” said MacDonald. “The quality and competitiveness of each team is phenomenal.”

“There are kids who play at all levels, from major junior to house league to kids who do not play (ice) hockey. The quality and competitiveness of each team is phenomenal.” – Sean MacDonald

MacDonald and Waugh agreed the most important skill for ball hockey players is an ability to run.

“The best part about is you don’t need to play (ice) hockey,” said Waugh, from Wilmot Valley. “There are guys on our team who don’t play hockey, but they can run and at the end of the day, as long as you can run and shoot, that is what makes a great ball hockey team.”

Strong goaltending

Goaltender George Gallant earned the shutout in the final and was named the Axemen’s player of the game in the gold-medal match. Goaltender Christian Cardona received the player-of-the-game award for the Colonels.

In the semifinals, also played June 6, the Axemen doubled the Montague Vikings 4-2, and the Colonels won an all-Charlottetown clash with the Charlottetown Rural Raiders 5-1.

Montague defeated Charlottetown Rural 3-1 in the bronze-medal game.

“Both the semifinals and final were very competitive,” said MacDonald. “They were very strong teams out of the east; we were the only team fortunate enough to come out of the west.

“The kids stepped up. They were wound up, ready to go and practised hard for a good three or four weeks. They wanted it and went out and got it.”

At a glance

Following is the PEISAA Senior AAA Boys Ball Hockey League history:

• The ball hockey league began in the spring of 2019 as a trial sport.
• There was no play in 2020 due to COVID-19.
• Ball hockey became a full-fledged PEISAA sport in 2021.
• The Three Oaks Axemen have won three championships – 2024, 2023 and 2021.
• The Westisle Wolverines won the 2022 championship.