New Westminster midget A1 head coach Peter Kaulfuss knew how to dress for the occasion.
The 24-year-old minor hockey coach borrowed a lucky tie and retailored his grandfather’s lucky suit and let his teenage Royals do the rest – winning the association’s second-ever provincial A banner.
New Westminster eked its way into the B.C. Hockey midget Tier 2 final with a double-overtime win over North Delta and then won it all, fashioning a 5-2 victory over host Trail in the gold-medal final last Wednesday.
Ben Manville and Taylor Seganfreddo led the way with a goal and an assist apiece, while Miller Cressman, Jordan Smith and Ryan Heaven also scored for the Royals.
“We had a really good year. We won our league, won the local playoff, won the Herb House tournament – I felt good going into the tournament,” said Kaulfuss. “Everywhere in the room there was trust.”
New West needed that positive quality in its comeback 5-4 OT win over Delta in the semifinals.
Trailing 2-0 just minutes into the contest and then 4-2 heading into the final period, Kaulfuss said there was never any doubt of the outcome.”
“It wasn’t what we wanted, what we needed or a start we were capable of,” he said.
Kaulfuss made a goalie change for the first time this season, thinking the team needed something to shake things up.
He then told the team that if they thought they were done, to think again.
Philip Tashin appeared to take those words to heart, cutting the deficit to one goal midway through the period before tying it up with less than a minute left on the clock to send the game to extra time.
Smith got the game winner in the second period of OT.
“It was my first time, and to win it the way we did was pretty special,” said Kaulfuss.
The title was a second championship banner for four New West players – Ryan Wilkinson, Josh Lauener, Sam Stevens and goalie Dominic Von Schoenberg – all who were on the same peewee team that years earlier won a B.C. title, also in Trail.
But the coincidences don’t end there.
Kaulfuss borrowed the pink tie that then peewee coach Jessie Leung wore on the occasion the New West peewees won the association’s first banner.
Kaulfuss also wore his special hand-me-down three-piece suit he got from his grandfather and in which he has yet to experience a loss while wearing it.
But superstition aside, it was the kids who made it happen, Kaulfuss added.
New West opened the tournament with a 7-4 win over Cranbrook and then upended Castlegar by a 9-1 scoreline.
Heaven and Chase Manderville had two goals apiece in the win in the latter game.
The Royals placed first in their pool following a 6-2 win over Smithers on Lauener’s second consecutive hat trick.
But the dramatics of the final two games will be the lasting memory for most of the team members, said Kaulfuss.
“Right from the get-go we believed we were going to come back,” he said. “It was that belief and trust that made it special. It was amazing.”
