Inexperienced, but full of heart and hustle, the Canmore Collegiate High School junior varsity boys got off to a promising start with a trip to the semifinals in their home tournament of the year on Saturday (Sept. 20).
Coach Greg Cook said the team improved immensely from their first game to their eventual loss to Holy Trinity of Okotoks in the semis. Even in what appears to be a building year for the young club, Canmore was able to take Holy Trinity to the limit, narrowly losing two matches to one.
“Given that I’ve only got four players with experience at this level, I wasn’t sure what to expect,” Cook said. “The boys rose to the occasion and there was a massive improvement from game one to the semifinals.”
The Crusaders have three Grade 9 players in the lineup in Riley Poffenroth, Geoff Otto and Malcolm Rogers.
“They are young and inexperienced, so we’ll be focusing on learning the system. We’ve got strong athletes from Grade 9 we were able to bring to our level.”
Although they dropped their first game to eventual winners Louis St. Laurent out of Edmonton, the Crusaders bested Bert Church of Airdrie to earn their semi berth.
“The boys aren’t afraid to hit the floor,” Cook said. “We had some strong blocking from Liam McCartney and good passing from Karl Stoliker and Ben Cook.”
The team will have lots of time to work on basics, as they have a month off until their next tournament. In the meantime, look for lots of action between CCHS, Banff and Our Lady of the Snows teams. JV Volleyball zones are scheduled for the second week of November.
“For us, it was a very early start. I’m super thrilled with where they’re at. We have a lot of athletic boys in the Bow Valley, a lot from hockey who can bring that heart and hard work to the volleyball court,” Cook said.
