The Vulcans gather around their goaltender after falling to the Saskatoon Riverkings in a series deciding game five on March 10, 2023. (Prince Albert Vulcans/Facebook)

By Logan Lehmann

Vulcans

Vulcans head coach reflects on the ups and downs of this past season

Mar 16, 2023 | 12:08 PM

It may not have been the ending they were hoping for, but the Prince Albert Vulcans have a ton to be proud of.

The U18AA squad finished the regular season with a North Division best record of 26-4-1-2 (W-L-OTL-T) as well as a Ron Gunville Memorial Tournament victory and a top-four finish at an AA tournament in Camrose.

Vulcans head coach Derek Simonson shared his overall thoughts with paNOW about his team’s regular season.

“Hats off to our group,” he said. “Our coaches, our players who bought into what we were teaching. We improved throughout the year, game by game like any other team. I mean, we had a few games where we weren’t at our best, that goes without saying with any sport, I think. A team that was really focused throughout the year and to get us where we’re at to the end of the season is great.”

The Vulcans entered the postseason as the number one team in the North, going up against the Northeast in the first round. P.A. quickly took the series by a 3-1 decision before moving on to round two.

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There, they met the Saskatoon Riverkings who came into the series after sweeping the North West. Unfortunately for the Vulcans, this would be the end of the road after Saskatoon came from behind to pull off the 3-2 upset.

“It was a series that we couldn’t take a night off,” Simonson explained. “And in true competitive fashion, it went to a game five and in playoff hockey anything can happen. They just happened to be a little bit better than us in game five, I think, which is a tough pill to swallow. Nothing really makes sense after a loss like that. We didn’t go as far as we wanted in the playoffs but that happens.”

Eight players from this year’s Vulcans team will be graduating from the club while other players have signed to play elsewhere in other leagues. Simonson took the time to talk about some if his players, both from the rookies to the graduating class.

“The first group of players I definitely want to recognize is our veterans,” he said. “They had a huge positive impact on our team in providing that gameday experience, the importance of the leadership on and off the ice and they really were part of the driving force that kept the train going down the tracks.”

Simonson also applauded the team’s second-year players and their goaltending core.

“Our ’06 kids, which would have been in their second year, were very solid and very sound from them and what I think may have surprised a few people was that we had a fairly big compilation of first-year kids that had big impacts on our team this year, positive impacts that related to success,” Simonson said. “Our goaltending was next to none, top two goaltenders in our league throughout the season. Team accolades in relation to goals against and we had seven shutouts on the year between the two of them. That’s kind of the foundation to a good team a lot of times from the back end up and we definitely had that this year.”

Simonson added that he plans to throw his name back in the hat to be named the coach of the Vulcans for the upcoming 2023-24 season.

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logan.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @lloganlehmann