Fundy Highland Cyclones eyeing N.S. hockey crown

Goaltender Amy Field of the Fundy Highland Wilsons Home Heating Atom A Cyclones has been brilliant this season. On Sunday, Field looks to backstop her team to a provincial title at the HNS Day of Champions at the RECC. - Joey Smith

TRURO, N.S. – Shawn Evans clearly remembers his first game behind the bench with the Colchester Cyclones atom A girls’ hockey team.

It was four years ago in Cape Breton and his squad was pummeled 17-1.

“And they put all 17 goals up on the board,” said Evans.

How times have changed.

This weekend, the Fundy Highland Wilsons Home Heating Atom A Cyclones will become the first Colchester County female team to play in the Hockey Nova Scotia Day of Champions at the Rath Eastlink Community Centre.

“We’re very proud of that,” said Evans, the team’s head coach.

“From starting four years ago to today, the girls are getting better. We’re in the Day of Champions because I have some very good hockey players. From the coaching end it’s certainly the most talented group I’ve had at the atom level.”

The Cyclones’ road to the championship included a third-place finish in the North Conference regular season, followed by an undefeated record at the league playoff tournament, capped by a 2-1 shootout victory over the Antigonish Bulldogs in the final.

“Antigonish was probably the favourite to win, and to beat them, there was a lot of happy kids and a lot of happy parents and that’s really what it’s all about in the end.”

Evans, also coach of the Truro Bearcats junior A hockey team, said he enjoys teaching young Cyclone players because they are eager to learn.

“They’re young hockey players and they are very impressionable, and all we’ve really tried to work on all season is our skills and being a team and what it’s like to be on a team and have the team come before the individual – that’s been a lot of the teaching from my end.”

The Cyclones will meet Metro East Inferno Red in a one-game showdown for the provincial title on Sunday, April 14, at 9 a.m.

“I don’t think they’ve grasped what they’ve accomplished and the excitement they’re gonna have on game day; I don’t think they get that yet,” said Evans. “Really, for a lot of the girls, this may be the best season and the biggest game they ever participate in.”

The Cyclones are one of three local atom teams playing for a provincial championship at the Day of Champions. Truro Bearcats atom A and AA teams will compete for Nova Scotia titles on Saturday. The atom A squad meets the South Shore Lumberjacks at 2 p.m., while the atom AA Bearcats face off against the Acadia Axemen at 4:30 p.m.