Hapnot’s senior Kings won the school’s Kopper Crown Classic tournament last weekend, while a former senior Kween’s new squad took the gold over this year’s Kweens team.
Three of Hapnot’s teams - the senior Kings and Kweens and junior varsity Kweens - took part in the tournament from Jan. 19-20, with games held at Hapnot and at Ecole McIsaac School.
On the boys’ side, the Kings made quick work of their opponents in their original three-team pool, beating the Helen Betty Osborne Ininiw Education Resource Centre (HBOIERC) Huskies from Norway House 71-54 and winning 78-25 against the Peguis Wolverines.
Meanwhile, in the second pool, the Creighton Kodiaks went 1-1 through pool play, beating the Oscar Lathlin Collegiate Ominacisak from Opaskwayak Cree Nation 72-20, but losing to The Pas’ Margaret Barbour Collegiate (MBCI) Spartans 60-50. MBCI would advance to the boys’ final against the Kings, while the Kodiaks would play for third place against HBOIERC.
In that third-place game, Creighton would hand Norway House a 58-50 loss, earning the bronze position and setting the stage for a second all-northern matchup for first. The Kings would end up taking the victory over MBCI, winning 60-53 and claiming the gold.
The senior Kings will be back in action next in Cranberry Portage Feb. 1-3 for the Frontier Collegiate Classic, hosted by the Frontier Raiders.
On the girls’ side, three of the six teams playing were local ones, with Hapnot’s senior and JV Kweens both playing alongside Creighton. A fourth team, the Dauphin Regional Comprehensive Secondary School (DRCSS) Clippers, had a strong tie to Hapnot on the bench. Former Hapnot Kweens player and Hapnot grad Maddy Lies, who now lives in Dauphin and works as a teacher at Smith-Jackson Ukrainian Bilingual School, was one of the Clippers’ coaches.
Back in her home gym and home town, Lies’ Clippers were in a three-team pool with the JV Kweens and the Kodiaks. A first game between Creighton and the JV Kweens ended with a 55-18 win for Creighton, then the Clippers faced Creighton in a game that would decide who finished first in the pool. DRCSS handed the Kodiaks a 60-50 loss, then beat the JV Kweens 53-25 to clinch the pool and a spot in the final.
Meanwhile, in the other group, the Hapnot senior Kweens would face both Oscar Lathlin and HBOIERC. Hapnot made quick work of both, beating the Ominacisak 67-20 and defeating HBOIERC 68-24, clinching first place and the other open spot in the final.
With Kweens past and present on both sides of the ball, the Clippers took over early and held on to a lead, doubling up the Kweens 48-23 en route to a DRCSS tournament win. Creighton picked up third place in the tournament with a 59-31 win over Oscar Lathlin, while the JV Kweens claimed fifth spot by beating HBOIERC 39-21.
The senior Kweens will play their next games at the Prairie Mountain Varsity Girls tournament Feb. 2-3 in Somerset, while the JV Kweens will play next at MBCI’s Spartans JV Girls Invitational tournament Feb. 9-10.
