(DalmenySabres/Facebook)

By Derek Craddock

CHAMPIONS!

‘Incredible’: TRHL season ends in historic fashion in Dalmeny

Mar 21, 2023 | 1:08 PM

It is a historic moment for one senior hockey team and the community that has rallied behind it for years.

This past weekend, the Dalmeny Sabres won the Twin Rivers Hockey League (TRHL) Championship sweeping the defending champion, Birch Hills Blackhawks in three games.

For head coach Darrin Wutzke, there was only one word he had to describe the feeling of winning it all.

“Incredible. Amazing year, amazing group of guys, amazing community and to be able to say that after all these years is a very special moment,” he said.

Not only did the Sabres beat the defending champions to win the title, but they also took down the league’s top team, the Willow Cree Chiefs, in the Division finals. The third-place Sabres also beat the second-place Rosthern Wheat Kings in the first round of the playoffs.

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So how did this team overcome the odds en route to the championship?

“We’ve got a lot of guys that have been with us for five, seven years in a row,” Wutzke said. “We got your guys that are out there every shift battling. Two goalies this year were incredible, and it all came together at the right time.”

For Dalmeny, it is the first time in roughly 50 years of senior hockey that a team has won a league championship.

Wutzke said that ongoing support also helped them cap off a memorable season.

Meanwhile, despite coming short of its second-straight championship, the Birch Hills Blackhawks could only tip their caps at the Sabres for an amazing playoff run.

“Dalmeny was a good team, it was a good series, they deserved to win,” Captain Tyler Tilford said.

He added that community support was outstanding for the team for both home and away games.

This season, though, did not come without some hiccups as some teams had trouble finding players to lace up for some games.

At the end of January, the Rosthern Wheat Kings turned to Twitter asking for players to hit the ice for a game against Kinistino.

Tilford said that is something that all teams in senior hockey struggle with.

“Don’t always have guys every game but that’s just the way senior is. Lots of time we go short on the road and that’s just the way it goes.”

The Sabres, Blackhawks and all teams in the TRHL will soon be getting ready for next season with a good mix of new and returning players set to come in.

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derek.craddock@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @PA_Craddock