The U14 Screaming Eagles pictured here with their gold medals following the championship game. (Submitted photo/Screaming Eagles)

By Martin Martinson

Big winners in Vegas

Screaming Eagles soar to gold at Memorial Day Classic

Jun 1, 2022 | 6:00 PM

Some of the top aboriginal youth hockey players from the Battlefords and Meadow Lake area took home a tournament championship recently at the 2022 Memorial Day Classic.

Taking place in Las Vegas, Nev., the local U14 team known as the ‘Screaming Eagles,’ (formerly Sunchild Law Eagles) is sponsored by Sunchild Law and features a number of players from surrounding First Nations, including Red Pheasant, Makwa Sahgaiehcan and Flying Dust, among other communities.

The Screaming Eagles hit the ground running, opening their tournament with a convincing 5-0 victory over California’s Ventura Mariners before also topping Colorado’s Littleton Hawks 8-1 and the Vegas Junior Knights 5-2 to close out round robin play.

Head coach, Sean Fauchon said he couldn’t have been more proud of the team’s ability to bond quickly to find success early in the short tournament.

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“The kids came together really well right from the start,” Fauchon said. “They came out flying and really played well.”

Heading into the playoff rounds a perfect 3-0, the team was ranked second overall with one more goal allowed than the Jr. Elites who were also undefeated as the second tiebreaker.

That set up another showdown with Vegas in the semi-finals, as the team again won 8-0, to punch their ticket to the finals against the Jr. Elites; a club comprised of top players from across the southern Sunbelt, from Florida and California.

A 1-1 game into the second period, the championship could have been in doubt if not for a heroic ‘Hasek-esc’ stop by goaltender, Holden Fauchon.

Tangled up with an opposition player at the side of the crease when the puck was relayed to an open stick in the high slot, Fouchon came flying across at the last instant to throw his leg out on a roll-over kick-save to keep the game tied.

It was a moment, coach Fauchon said turned the tide in the contest.

“You could see the wind go out of their sails on that one,” Fouchon said of the stop. “As far as I was concerned, it was [going to be] a goal, but Holden really shut the door for us and did the job he needed to do, and the other guys really stepped up to put the puck in the net as we took it to them from there.”

Among the players to step up large were Red Pheasant’s Seth Baptiste, Battleford’s Ethan Amyotte, Flying Dust’s Owen Sinclair and Meadow Lake’s Aiden Harmon, as the Screaming Eagles would go on to score four more of their own to stretch the lead to 5-1 on their way to the championship.

The U14s will play another tournament later this summer as they head to North York, Ont. for the Toronto Preseason Blast on August 19–21.

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Martin.Martinson@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @MartyMartyPxP1