The Grande Prairie Athletics are sipping champagne out of the Campbell Cup again. The team became the North Peace Hockey League Champions for the second time on Thursday when they beat the Dawson Creek Canucks in Game six on home ice. Centre Dennis Rix says it felt good to win in front of a hometown crowd.
“We’re pretty excited to win a championship at any level and with a good group of guys like we have on the A’s was really exciting. It was a pretty tight game but it was nice to get it done in six at home in front of our fans.”
In order to get here, the Athletics beat the Fort St. John Flyers in five games and the Falher Pirates in six. The Grande Prairie and Dawson Creek series started in B.C. on March 9th with the Canucks taking game one. The series went back and forth until Thursday night when the Athletics took it in overtime 3-2. Rix says it was a hard fought battle between the two teams but they came out ahead.
“They did finish first overall [in the] regular season so they had home ice advantage; so a little bit tougher starting on the road there. They played well at home but we were able to pull through. We had a really good group of guys and we worked hard and all played as a team so I think that was the difference in the end.”
Grande Prairie first won the cup in 2010. Rix says the players will now take some time to savour the win before they each decide whether they’ll hit the ice again in September for another season.