Killarney Shamrocks Win Second Straight Manitoba Senior A Crown
By
Scott Taylor Photos by Jeff Miller
It was the culmination of one of the greatest seasons in the history of the Killarney Shamrocks . The best team in the Tiger Hills Sr . A Hockey League came to Winnipeg for the province ’ s Senior A championship weekend at MTS Iceplex and shut out Carberry 4-0 in the semifinal , then walloped the Norway House North Stars 9-3 in the final . For the second straight season , a group of close friends from a small southwestern community were on top of the provincial hockey summit … and to do it back-to-back sure felt good .
Shayne Skeoch was a pretty successful Triple A Bantam coach when he was asked to take the reins of the Tiger Hills Senior A Hockey League ’ s Killarney Shamrocks . Because he knew most of the players and had a good rapport with all of them , he thought it would be a nice , easy job .
He didn ’ t realize how easy . “ Yeah , there are times when I think I just open and close the gate ,” Skeoch said as he celebrated a second straight Provincial Sr . A championship with his friends . “ We do talk about some things , but pretty much , I just roll the next five guys . “ It really is pretty easy coaching these guys . They step up when they have to and as a result , we had a real strong season . These guys all grew up together and to win with this group was really nice . We ’ re a pretty fun group of guys . We have some fun bus trips and all these guys are friends . They ’ re great to be around .” Last month , the Shamrocks showed the Province just how good they really were . Former Brandon Wheat Kings ’ defenseman Reid Gow , a Killarney boy , born-and-bred , scored the eventual winning goal and set up four others as he led a close-knit group of hockeyplaying friends to a 9-3 victory over the Norway House North Stars in the final of Hockey Manitoba ’ s Provincial Sr . A Championship weekend at MTS Iceplex . With the victory , the Shamrocks had won both the THHL championship and the Provincial title and finished
BIG SAVE BY NORWAY HOUSE ’ S SONNY ALBERT