Boys: Sturgeon Heights vs. Rutland
Written by Devin Delany, Handsworth Grad 2006
‘Voodoo craft some magic’
A Saturday morning battle between two teams travelling from afar with the Voodoos in town from Kelowna and the Huskies in from Winnipeg’s hinterland. Despite a quiet gymnasium with both teams limited fan base in town, the early going brought out high intensity and some feisty fouls on both teams.
It certainly appeared as though the Husky squad had been eating their fair share of prairie Wheaties as they looked big and strong oversizing a Voodoo team. The Huskies 6’7 provincial all-star centre Michael Fedak, put his size on display in the first frame bringing down countless boards on each end of the hardcourt. Despite the size mismatch the Voodoo were able to hang around the whole quarter and trailed by just 1 going into the second frame.
The Voodoo were able to gain more momentum in the second penetrating the Huskies D and causing fouls up and down the court with the Husky hands getting a little too happy. Unfortunately, the Voodoo simply couldn’t capitalize on these fouls as they were finding nothing but iron from the charity stripe. At halftime the Huskies led 34-28 with both teams looking forward to the breather and guidance from their fearless leaders on the bench.
Halftime thought: What ever happened to the Vancouver Voodoo?!
Apparently whatever message Coach Josh Dorf gave to his Voodoo blue was heard loud and clear as they came out with a different intensity level pushing the pace on offence. The high court press seemed to be getting to the Huskies as frustration levels were mounting and they kept falling farther behind. This different pace completely changed the game giving the Voodoo a 63-51 lead going in the final quarter.
If the Huskies were going to eat into this lead it would have to come on the back of their leader and all-star Fedak who seemed to be doing everything he could to will his team back. Despite doing everything he could he simply couldn’t stop the Voodoo from making it rain from behind the arc and stretching the lead to 21 points. They continued to spread the ball around the court putting on a fantastic display of team work and court awareness.
A great battle of teams finished with the Voodoo coming back to win 87-72. Thank you to both teams for putting on a great show on an early Saturday morning.
Full time answer: The Voodoo were an inline roller hockey team found and owned by Tiger Williams that folded in 1996 after the league ceased operations. It’s a true shame they couldn’t keep rolling….
