Sports
May 14, 2008 06:48 PM
John Slykhuis
A hockey hero from Keswick helped the Jr. A Humboldt Broncos capture the national RBC Cup in Sunday’s final against Alberta’s Camrose Kodiaks in Cornwall Sunday.
York Region has an RBC Cup champion again in 2008. Edward Gale scored the only goal as the Broncos from Saskatchewan won 1-0.
Gale’s scoring heroics came at 16:39 of the first on a powerplay. The game was broadcast on TSN. Gale was traded from last-place Athol Notre Dame Hounds to Humboldt in a Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League deal Dec. 1.
“We were all there, cheering.”
Edward’s family was rooting him on from the stands for the dramatic final, watching as he took the puck out of the corner and tucked it in behind Kodiaks’ goalie Allen York. “We were all there, cheering,” his mother Carolyn Gale said.
“It was great, really exciting.”
Also in the stands was his cousin, Gary Leeman, the former NHL player for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Gale attended Keswick Public School, playing for the Richmond Hill Stars, then triple AAA hockey for the York-Simcoe Express that won the all-Ontario title. A top student, he was the school’s valedictorian.
After graduating from Keswick Public School, he attended high school at the Athol Murray College of Notre Dame in Saskatchewan, playing and captaining the school hockey team until his move to Humboldt.
While at Notre Dame, Gale was the quarterback for the school’s football team and was a pitcher for the Hounds, the Notre Dame baseball team that won the regional championship.
Upon graduation, Gale was named the school’s Athlete of the Year.
The five-foot, nine-inch forward, who plans to attend university this fall, had five goals in six games at the tournament and was named most valuable player twice.
The gutsy Gale also played the entire series with bandaged shoulder he had separated in January.
“He’ll be home in a couple of weeks,” his mother said.
Gale has extended family in Keswick, including parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins, his aunt Virginia Gale said.
“He’ll be home in a couple of weeks.”
Humboldt rolled through the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League during the regular season, finishing with a 48-9-0-1 record and the league’s top offense (4.05 goals for per game) and top defense (1.95 goals against per game).
Humboldt and Camrose flip-flopped as the top-ranked team in the nation for much of the season. It was their first trip to the RBC Cup since winning the national title in 2003.
— with files from Jim Mason