White Bear Lake Peewee AA
The 2019-2020 season was truly a historic one for the White Bear Lake Peewee AA team. The Bears finished with an overall record of 46-5-2, which earned them the #1 spot in YHH’s final season rankings. The Bears never lost a game by more than two goals, went 14-3-2 against the other nine teams in YHH’s top 10, and earned five more wins than the next closest team in the state.
Tournament Highlights:
- The Bears stormed out of the gate by winning the Big Pumpkin, outscoring their opponents by a combined score of 26-9.
- December consisted of taking 3rd place in the Spirit of Duluth, 2nd place in the Lumberjack Cup, and third place in the Edina Invitational.
- January’s tournament called for the Bears to protect their home turf in the Moose Goheen. The Bears had arguably their most exciting single day of the season in beating Woodbury 6-4 in an epic semi-final, followed by a 7-2 win over rival Stillwater tp claim the championship!
- The Bears earned the #1 seed in the four-team District 2 playoffs. After beating Mounds View-Irondale in the opening game, the Bears outlasted Stillwater in back-to-back 1-goal battles to earn the District 2 championship trophy.
- During the South Region Tournament, Bears outscored their opponents by a combined score of 20-3. In both the semi-final and championship, White Bear Lake was leading 2-1 after two periods. However, the Bears came out flying in the 3rd to take home first-place.
All year long, the boys received excellent coaching from Coach Jeff Anderson and his staff of Sean Galloway, Mike Kaupp, Scott Shaffer, and Brad Timmons. The time and energy that these men invested was incredible, especially since only two of them had boys on the team.
From day one of the season, the Bears sported practice jerseys with five large letters on the back spelling, “FERDA.” This genius piece of hockey slang (think a Canadian accent saying the phrase, “for the…”) became a rallying cry, meaning that this team would do everything “FERDA boys.” Everyone was about putting the team first, and everyone was held accountable for their effort and contribution towards the greater good. This FERDA mentality was on display all year long. It was a true team effort from start to finish.