Westmount hockey wraps up

Following several years’ absence from the A calibre of the Eastern Hockey League, Westmount entered teams in each of the novice, atom, peewee, bantam and midget divisions, with the oldest group having the most success.

“We had a very talented midget team this year. The coaches believed in having fun and the players were excited to come out. At that age, kids tend to miss practice for things like work and school, but these kids made a real commitment,” said Westmount Recreation’s Steve Robaire.

“The majority of these kids have played at a high level before, and most of them play on their school teams, so to come out and play together in Westmount was a bonus for them.”

The midgets did not disappoint, winning the St. Laurent tournament in January and going deep in the league playoffs.

“In the tournament, they actually lost one game before running the table to beat everyone including the home team from St. Laurent, so that was intense,” Robaire said.

“In the playoffs, they went to the semifinals after going 1-1 to start. They won four in a row before facing the Rockets, which is the team they beat in the tournament, so it was a tough loss.

“We haven’t had a midget A team since 1989, so this is our first year back in a long time and the fact that they won a tournament is amazing.”

At the novice, atom and peewee levels, Westmount entered teams under the St. Laurent banner.

“For logistical reasons, we registered our younger kids through St. Laurent. In past years we released our kids to them, so we did that this year even though the teams were all Westmount kids,” Robaire said.

“We didn’t know exactly where we stood in August when we had to register, so we did it this way, but things look promising for next year so they’ll all be Westmount teams.”

Playing in the same zone as St. Laurent and TMR, Westmount had one team make it to the regional championship.

“Our bantam A team was the top of those three in our area and got to go to the regional championship in Dollard. They won the first game and lost the second game to be out, but it was a great experience,” Robaire said.

“We also hosted the bantam A playoffs and we won our first game and lost our second just like in the regionals, but the team showed well and we’ll be strong next year as a result.”

The year ended with a trip for the atom A’s to the Boston area.

“Our atoms went down to Cape Ann for an end-of-the-year tournament. It hasn’t happened in four years, so we brought it back and we had a great time,” Robaire said.

“We played three games against their atom teams and it went so well, we’ll arrange to have everyone go next season.”