Over the years, I've closely followed many a hockey team in this area. Some teams have been weak, some strong and still others have fallen anywhere in between. There are certain teams however, that seem to come up with some defining moment or statement game that, in hindsight, galvanizes the entire roster and proves to both them and the people that cheer them on that there might be more to that team's character and potential than what meets the eye. It doesn't happen every single season, but when it does, it almost always leads to further success.
In the local junior hockey scene, an early version of the Moncton Wildcats fit that description to a tee.
Back in the 1997-98 season, the Wildcats were a team on the rise. After missing the playoffs the season before, the franchise - then in it's third year - was on the road to what would lead to it's first post-season appearance. The youthful core of the franchise - including Simon Laliberte, David Comeau, Mirko Murovic, Morgan Warren, Alexandre Vigneault and JF Damphousse - was gradually improving while gaining more and more experience in the league. A fine mix of veterans such as Weston Fader, Sebastien Roger and Francois Cloutier augmented this youth movement, as did the impact of a duo of Euro dmen in Alexi Tezikov and Jan Horacek. Still, this was a team that had it's ups and downs. The same team that went winless in 11 games in October followed that up with a 7-2-2 run. December was much of the same up and down play. More often than not, Moncton found a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Then, it all turned around.
That Christmas, the Cats traded Stephen Quirk straight up to the Halifax Mooseheads for Todd Row. Row was an overager with the Moose, a Memorial Cup champion with the 1996 Granby Predateurs and a natural leader. Row was in the lineup on January 9, 1998 when the Cats played host to Rimouski. L'Oceanic had been - and to this day remain - a constant nemesis for Moncton. They were also a pretty friggin great team, as evidenced about four months later when they were participating in the league finals. On this evening however, the Cats gave the 'Nics all they could handle... and it looked like the two points would wind up in the coffers of the home squad... until a goal in the dying seconds by gritty Rimouski sniper Francis Belanger - like Row, acquired by his new team that Christmas - evened the back and forth game up at four aside. To OT we would go.
In countless situations up until this point, the Wildcats had broken. They had not yet won a game under these circumstances - in large part because that type of winning atmosphere was still very much being cultivated in the room. There was simply too much talent on the roster that was still adjusting to life in major junior. A big step in the right direction for that edition of the Cats came to a head that evening. 3:38 into extra time, the aforementioned Mr. Row fed a perfect pass to a trailing Sebastien Roger as he made his way into the slot. Love him or hate him, Roger and his 53 goals were vital to the club that season. The ensuing shot off his stick this night would become goal #34 on the year for him. It would also be a defining moment for that team. That night they proved to themselves and everyone else in the building that even though "their year" was a year or two away, they were nonetheless capable of winning now, and against a formidable opponent at that.
They would win in very similar fashion exactly one week later against the eventual regular season champion Quebec Remparts, this time tying the game at 1-1 with just under a minute to play in regulation before pulling off another OT victory on a goal by none other than Todd Row 3:55 into the extra session. Overall, the Cats played a very consistent brand of hockey from the night of that overtime win over Rimouski until the end of the regular season, to the tune of a .648 winning percentage. They rode that wave into the playoffs where behind the stellar netminding of Damphousse (who's not paying me to put that in here but he could if he wished), Moncton upset Chicoutimi in six games in round one before coming within a game of sneaking through to the league semi-finals during a round robin against - ironically - Rimouski and Quebec. However, it was that game against a challenging opponent nine days after New Year's in 1998 that set the tone for how that team conducted itself on the ice for the next three months.
This year's Dieppe Commandos remind me of that Wildcats team in a number of ways. Both teams were relatively young. Both teams had a number of players who were still learning how to win at this level. Both had up and down first halves of the season. Both were very exciting to watch, making up for a fairly young d corps with a pop-gun offense that kept them alive in many a game. And now, both have made a statement in an early January game against a very tough opponent. For the Commandos, that moment was yesterday afternoon at home against Woodstock, a game which saw the Commandos come from 6-3 down to score four unanswered and defeat the Slammers 7-6. The big difference between the two clubs was the business they conducted during the Christmas trade period. While the Cats added a valuable veteran in Row, the Commandos biggest move was actually trading their leading scorer Danny Chiasson to Summerside. Since that trade, this team seems to have resolved to show everyone who will watch that they will find a way to win with who remains on the roster. They've done a pretty good job of convincing people thus far, going 5-2 since resuming play on January 3rd and - despite a couple of wins that were high scoring affairs - exhibiting a higher level of confidence that says to those watching that no matter what the score, they are not about to roll over.
One other similarity between this year's Commandos and that year's Wildcats is the fact that this is not supposed to be their year. Dieppe is built for success (and will be aided moreso come June) to win next year. However, just like the '98 Cats, there is a feeling that perhaps they will adjust that learning curve a bit. The team as it stands right now - in spite of some unorthodox methods of victory - is starting to develop the feeling that they will give any opponent a run for their money. A feeling that will be tested to the utmost Thursday night when Summerside comes to town. If they lose, to be brutally honest, noone will be shocked. But if they happen to pull it off - even if they make the Caps sweat it out in a close affair - they will go one step further in proving to themselves a very valuable lesson about competing, confidence and paving the road to victory.
That lesson being: it's never to early to start learning.
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