A season of tragedy ended in triumph for the High River Heat.
With heavy hearts, the Heat completed an undefeated season with a perfect record to win the Alberta Junior B Tier III Lacrosse Championships in Brooks on July 24 in honour of fallen teammate Justin MacKenzie.
“It was really emotional for a lot of the guys on our team, especially the older guys who spent their three years with him,” said Heat rookie Nick DiMaulo, one of six players from the Okotoks area. “The next day we had a game, went out and played and dedicated the season to him.”
MacKenzie, a third-year member of a High River squad which included his brother Carson, was killed in a car accident east of High River on May 12.
He was 20.
“He would have wanted us to win,” said DiMaulo, a student at Holy Trinity Academy. “All of our hard work and everything was going to pay off when we won and were able to bring a medal home for him and his brother.
“It was a good feeling for his brother to win the medal for him and a good feeling for everybody on the team.”
The Heat— which featured six Okotokians in DiMaulo, Max Stiel, Isaac Bryson, Nick Asuchak, Cole Huwald and Dustin Tolhurst — entered the provincial tournament as the clear favourites.
High River pitched a perfect regular season with a record of 15-0 while outscoring their opponents by a margin of 172 and allowing an average of just two goals against per game.
“We had a pretty skilled team and one of the things that helped us was how close we all were on the team,” DiMaulo said. “There was rarely any bickering on the benches, it was more of a family than a team.”
The dominance extended into the tournament, pitting all four teams from the Junior B Tier III ranks including the host Brooks Drillers.
High River brought the heat from the get-go, posting consecutive runaway victories of 16-1 and 16-7 over the Calgary Axemen and Olds Stingers, respectively.
The Heat then took their first of two straight versus the Drillers in a 18-6 triumph before the squads renewed acquaintances in the gold-medal final.
In front of a partisan Brooks crowd, High River struck gold in a comprehensive 15-5 victory with DiMaulo netting a hat-trick in the championship final.
High River, which saw players come in from the dissolved Okotoks Tier II Ice program, likely won’t be back competing for the Tier III crown anytime soon.
The Heat will likely jump up a division next season.
“There should be more teams and a little bit more skill,” DiMaulo said. “It will be harder competition and will be good for us.”
