ST. BRIEUX — Despite a player going down with a dislocated ankle two minutes before half-time, the St. Brieux Crusaders beat Norquay 83 to 78, keeping the 2A Boys Hoopla provincial title.
The team was coached by Ryan Trumbley and Erin Bernhard.
“It was an emotional roller coaster with everything that happened. First off playing Hoopla on your home floor which has never happened before in history and we think we had 500 or 600 people in the gym, it was just an amazing atmosphere unlike anything I’ve ever been a part of,” Trumbley said.
“It felt like a movie and it was just exhausting, but in all the good ways… There was so much emotion in the game and so many good shots both ways.”
The game started shot for shot before Norquay took an early lead. Trumbley said they had just begun getting it together and figuring out how to navigate Norquay’s defence when Dawson Kessir dislocated his ankle due to a bad landing while going for a rebound.
Kessir was taken by ambulance to Prince Albert where his ankle was reset and he was home that night.
“He is in for a bit of a recovery, but we were originally thinking he needed surgery so this is a good news thing,” Trumbley said. “They said they expected a full recovery.”
After the game, Trumbley said they received hundreds of messages of support from community members asking how he was doing.
“It sucks that it had to happen to him, but I know that he was strong enough to get over it. Here’s hoping he’s back to himself very quickly,” he said.
“He was just so excited we could get a win and in true Dawson fashion, he was apologetic that he held the game up.”
After the injury, Trumbley said he gave the team the utmost credit that they could refocus.
“The first thing they said is they want to win it for Dawson,” he said. “They came out, they were firing on all cylinders and we went on a 7-0 run after the injury then it was half-time. Then it was back and forth the whole way.”
Due to Kessir’s injury, coaches had Jagger Teiber fill in, who’s typically more of a defensive and rebound player. Fortunately, Trumbley said they were prepared by training their players for a variety of positions.
“Jagger went in, we changed our formation a bit. He did a lot for us, he rebounded a lot still, he was taking some frees that he normally doesn’t take. Our point-guard Richard Rosalin played a perfect second half.”
Trumbley spoke highly of Norquay, particularly Keannu Albarracin, who Trumbley referred to as one of the best players in rural Saskatchewan.
“We had our little No. 4 guard play an amazing defence on him the whole second half. It was like every one of our guys did something special on the second half to win that game.”
Hoopla was absent due to the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, making this the third year in a row the team earned gold, after victories in 2018 and 2019. The 2019 finals were also against Norquay.
“We were up 20 points with six minutes to go and they had a crazy comeback and almost came back and beat us,” Trumbley said. “Lots of people talk about how that was one of the best Hoopla games ever, but maybe this game takes the place of that game.”
