By Jeff D'Andrea

PA soccer player makes history with Saskatoon club, win first ever national title

Oct 12, 2011 | 9:08 PM

This weekend’s 2011 Challenge Trophy victory was 18 years in the making for Prince Albert’s Dwayne Gareau.

Gareau, the grizzled 31-year-old veteran midfielder for Saskatoon’s Huskie United Soccer Academy Alumni, lifted the national title over his head Monday in Brossard, QC after many years of competing at the national level, dating back to when he was a teenager.

“For me it’s a really, really big achievement. I’ve been chasing a national championship since I’ve been 13 years old, both with provincial teams and club teams,” said Gareau. “Especially over the last few years when I started to get a little older, I always question if this is my last year of soccer or if I’m going to continue playing competitive soccer, so to finally get it and to be the first time that it’s happened in (Saskatoon) men’s soccer, I guess at times it’s overwhelming.

“It’s an accomplishment that I’ll really cherish.”

Although the Challenge Trophy has given to the nation’s best senior men’s amateur team since 1913, the Saskatoon HUSA is the first ever team from Saskatchewan to win the trophy.

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At 31 years of age, Gareau is pondering whether or not he’ll want to battle again for the prestigious honour or hang up the cleats on a high note, the decision he has had to mull over has the past few postseasons.

“Every year after I’m done playing, I’ll always tell my teammates and my coach that I’ll take some time to think about it, and every year they’ll say, ‘you know, next year’s the year,’” said Gareau. “Now that we’ve finally won it, they’re saying ‘well, we have to defend our national championship,’ so they’re always trying to get me to not hang them up.

“I’ll take some time and decide, but the thing is I still really enjoy it a lot. I love it and I’m still playing at a high level and being effective. If my play had dropped off or if I feel that I wouldn’t be able to contribute, it would be a lot easier to step away from the game.”

The Huskies Alumni were dominant in the tournament, outscoring their opponents 14-3. Two of those came in a meaningless round robin game, a 2-1 loss to B.C.’s ICST Pegasus after both teams already had a playoff berth secured.

Gareau said that the Huskies’ depth was too much for their opponents and was a huge reason for the team’s success as they were able to stay fit and fresh throughout the tournament.

“I thought our bench was by far the best bench in the tournament and when you’re playing five games in five days, if you don’t have that bench play, you’re not going to be successful,” said Gareau.

That depth paid off in the finals as the team felt good and decided to really press Pegasus early on, hoping to strike first.

“Our fitness levels were good and we were healthy so we thought if we could get a good start and get on them early and get a quick goal first, we’ll really put them under,” said Gareau. “In the first twenty minutes we were attacking and we were all over them.”

Huskies forward Nathan Reis, fellow Prince Albert local living now living Saskatoon, scored the goal and the eventual game winner, as the Huskies added a second half goal to go on and win the final 2-0.

Being one of the oldest outside players on the team and in the tournament, Gareau will have a tough decision to make this offseason. But after tasting gold after chasing it for so long and making history, the chance to win two national titles row may be too big of a temptation to hang them up.

jdandrea@rawlco.com