A ragtag team of 12-year-olds from Boulder and surrounding areas, including Arvada and even south Denver, will be heading to Canada next month to represent the Colorado Avalanche in an international hockey tournament.
After a thrilling come-from-behind victory over the Littleton Hawks (another local powerhouse) in the Avalanche International Qualifier in November, the Boulder Hockey Club 12AA (tier two) team punched its ticket to the 65th Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament set for Feb. 12-23.
The tournament is dubbed by many as the “Little League World Series of hockey,” and the Boulder RoughRiders team will represent the Junior Avs on the international stage. The Colorado Avalanche will cover the team’s expenses for two weeks.
“I knew we’d be OK at the beginning of the year after tryouts,” said Neil Runbeck, the team’s head coach and Boulder Hockey Club director. “We had some skilled hockey players and I knew we would be a competitive hockey team. As far as … what level, I just wasn’t sure. And Littleton always puts together kind of an all-star team. I think we’ve only lost five games or something all season, and three of them have been to Littleton.”
The RoughRiders would weather the storm to get revenge in the championship final of the qualifier. It certainly didn’t come easy; Littleton once again brought its A-game.
Team parent Megan Gilhooly was in the nosebleeds but was still locked in on the edge of her seat.
“I watched the game from 30,000 feet, literally,” she said. “I was with my other three kids on a plane to Brazil watching the stream online. I hope I didn’t wake any of the sleeping passengers up as I reacted to the highs and lows of this rollercoaster game … The Quebec Qualifier championship game was the pee-wee game of the year in Colorado. More important than Silver Sticks. More important than state. The team gave it everything they had, and it paid off. I’m so proud of this BHC team.”
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Overcoming a two-goal deficit twice, the Riders scored two goals in the last 1:53 to tie the game at four and send the match into overtime. At 3:45 of the second overtime, Boulder forward Sieger Gilhooly charged the net and scored the game-winning goal, sealing the victory for Boulder and sending the team to Quebec.
“Coach Neil did a very cool thing,” Megan Gilhooly said. “He had players from the team he coached 10 years ago (who also were underdogs in the championship and won) send videos about what the Quebec experience meant to them. The players who sent videos had gone on to play juniors and/or college hockey. These videos inspired the team and set the stage for what was on the line.”
The players responded and dug deep to punch their ticket past their rivals.
“It meant a ton (to get the win),” Runbeck said. “We had a bunch of kids and coaches and parents that all bought into everything that we’ve been kind of building up to at that point.”
It’s a lot of traveling, ice training, games and practices, he said. It takes a village to keep a club team together and operate at a high level through the ups and downs of a season.
To finally break through and beat their Goliath, it meant the world.
“It was a lot of, you know, validation for the kids and the parents and the other coaches that all that hard work paid off,” he said. “You don’t know that it’s going to work out, but just hoping it’s developing some good habits with kids, and you just kind of let the chips fall where they may. But yeah, I would say that moment of winning was exhilarating.”
Runbeck credited players Brandon Guyette and Elijah Gold for their defense and tenacity, Josh Rioux for being “a stud” as a leader and understanding the team’s dynamics and Gilhooly for being a “beast” and offensive anchor for the team, scoring close to four goals per game.
Then there are the goalies, Braden Smith and Ben Collins.
“I mean, I’ll tell them sometimes, like, ‘Hey, Ben, you’re starting.’ And he’s like, ‘No, it’s Braden’s turn,’” Runbeck said. “They’ve totally taken over the ownership of being the goalies and splitting time and cheering each other on.”
The RoughRiders still have a handful of league games left on their schedule as well as the Rocky Mountain Hockey Federation playoffs in early February.
A big focus down the final stretch is continuing to get stronger and faster, Runbeck said.
Players have at-home workout programs that include planks, push-ups and pull-ups. But also the coaches are moving the players around in practice. That means certain positions will play other positions to help develop a better understanding of every player’s goals and perspectives on the ice.
“And then (there’s) just the mental side of just being a good athlete and being a good human being,” he said. “Because obviously, we are representing the Avalanche, and we want to represent them in the best way possible. And so it’s a lot of character-building stuff that we’re doing. Those are the three main things: bigger, stronger, faster on the physical side, better decision-making, and then just being a good human being.”
For more information on the Boulder Hockey Club, including following the 12AA team on its way to Quebec, visit www.boulderhockeyclub.com.