Exceeding Expectations

Humble Beginnings
The 2022-23 La Crete Lumber Barons' expectations in their inaugural season were simple: Make progress. Be patient. And it was clear from the team's season-opening weekend that patience would be the theme of the year as they would get shelled to the tune of 9-3 and 5-2 by the County of Grande Prairie Wheat Kings in their first-ever regular season games in the North West Junior Hockey League. With only a select few players on the roster who had ever experienced Junior B hockey and a roster loaded with rookies, growth was destined to be slow and painful throughout the season.

Fast track to December 4, 2022, and the Lumber Barons were fighting to hold onto 7th place in the standings, which would be barely good enough to qualify for the Playoffs in their first-ever season. They were taking a beating on the scoreboard in the process, with a -37 goal differential to go with a 6-13-1 record to start the year. They just needed to get through another five games before the Christmas break, and a chance to come back stronger in the second half of the season. Through those next five games, however, they managed to build some momentum for themselves and go into the break riding a 5-game point streak after collecting three wins and taking two strong Fort St John and Dawson Creek teams to overtime.

Showing Promise
The Barons picked up right where they'd left off after Christmas, pushing their point streak to 9 games after coming away with another 4 consecutive wins following the break. The team was gelling at the perfect time and this would help them finish the season on an 11-7-4 run with a +4 goal differential in those 22 games. A tale of two seasons from one half to the next, La Crete managed to qualify for the Playoffs after securing 5th place in the NWJHL and a date with the Dawson Creek Kodiaks in a best-of-five series.

La Crete would take both a 1-0 and 2-1 series lead, but the series would come down to the final period of Game 5 with the teams deadlocked in a 2-2 tie in the game. The Kodiaks' experience proved the difference as the British Columbia squad ended the Barons' season with a 5-2 victory in the winner-take-all. Though a bitter ending to an encouraging season, there was plenty of promise to build off in the offseason.

Keep Improving
After a successful introduction to the NWJHL, this 2023-24 season's focus is to build upon last year's promising results. Finishing just one place higher in the standings than last season would enable the team to secure home-ice advantage for the first time in its short history, but the goal extends much farther into the playoffs than that. Conservative expectations would have the team finishing among the top-3 teams by season's end, and try to win a playoff round or two - but success early on in the season has the team looking like a group with Championship aspirations.

The Lumber Barons are off to a roaring start to the 2023-24 campaign, firing off eleven straight wins and have yet to lose a game. Throughout those eleven games, they've taken care of business in their own end - allowing more than 2 goals only twice (in a 6-5 win over the North Peace Navigators in the second game of the season, and a 7-3 victory over the Wheat Kings October 1st) but their red-hot offense has scored 94 goals and has them at a whopping +75 goal differential to show for it. On an individual note, all five of the top goal scorers in the league (Drew Friesen: 10-18-28 points, Eric Giesbrecht: 21-5-26 points, Landon Derksen: 8-18-26 points, Jonah Cardinal: 11-11-22 points and Matthew Bergen: 7-11-18 points) hail from La Crete, with another - Carter Fehr: 3-10-13 points in the top-10. Nearly everything has gone right for the squad thus far.

La Crete has also been taking care of unfinished business from the past season. The club had several rough outings against the league's top-3 teams last year. They went winless against the Wheat Kings and Fort St John Huskies and managed only a single win over the Sexsmith Vipers. Collectively against the three clubs, La Crete managed a meager 1-14-3 record against the NWJHL's best, suffering a -57 goal differential. This year, however? A much different story thus far, as the team has a perfect 3-0 record against the same squads and has outscored their opponents in those games to the tune of 21-6. 

Though the season has started far better than even the most hopeful of enthusiasts could have imagined, we are only 1/4 through the schedule and much of the season remains - and as such, lots could still change before season's end. The original goal remains the same, but now they'll be the ones with a target on their backs. No longer will they catch teams by surprise, and opposing teams will be bringing their best in an attempt to overtake their seat at the top.

Up Next
The Lumber Barons play host to the Huskies on October 28 & 29, as the club from Fort St John will look to play spoiler and attempt to halt the Lumber Barons' winning streak at eleven - and depending on the results of their own games this October 20 weekend (while the Lumber Barons have the weekend off), the Huskies could potentially overtake the Barons for top spot in the league with a pair of wins. Great teams going head-to-head tend to bring the best out of each other, so La Crete fans should be in for a treat next weekend. After all - this could be a preview of what we might see in the playoffs this Spring.