Team East Region finished with 39 total medals at the 2026 Manitoba Winter Games last week in Thompson.
One of them came on the ice courtesy of the U13 boys hockey team, whose thrilling three days of games resulted in a silver medal.
After going undefeated through the round robin, quarterfinals and semifinals, Team East took on Team West #1 on Wednesday for the gold medal.
Team West went on to take it 2-1 at C.A. Nesbitt Arena thanks to a game-winning goal at 8:55 of the third period, handing Team East its only loss of the tournament.
“Winning a silver medal is a significant achievement that often comes with mixed emotions,” said East boys head coach Jason Woznesensky. “Typically it follows a loss in the final game, so kids can be pretty hard on themselves, but us coaches were trying to relay to them how they left their hearts out there, they left it all on the ice, and couldn’t have been more proud of them.”
Team East succeeded particularly in the defensive zone, allowing just six goals over five tournament games.
In Monday’s round robin, they allowed zero goals in a pair of 3-0 wins over Team North and Team South #2 before beating the same two clubs with 5-2 and 6-2 performances in Tuesday’s quarterfinals and semifinals.
By Wednesday’s gold-medal game, Team East had completed the gruelling task of playing five times in three days. They finished with 18 goals for and six against through the tournament.
“The biggest thing with our team and even from what we heard from other coaches and teams was they played as a team,” said Woznesensky. “The whole team effort was there from off the ice and the way the boys gelled definitely translated onto the ice. It was pretty clear they were playing for one another, and that constant support, staying positive and encouraging one another was pretty awesome to see from a coaching perspective.”
Woznesensky, Russ Reich and Lee Rivard made up the trio of Interlake-based Team East staff members. They picked the team back in December, which ended up having 16 players — three from the U13AA Interlake Lightning and the rest from U13AA Winnipeg Thrashers clubs.
For the players, it was their first and only Manitoba Winter Games experience due to the event being held only once every four years.
“The laughs, the fun times, the new friendships that they made with one another, just again how close they were off the ice and on the ice — definitely something as coaches we couldn’t have asked for in a better group of kids and hockey players,” said Woznesensky. “I’m pretty sure this will help create a fun, memorable environment that they’ll remember and cherish forever.”
Team East’s U14 girls hockey team had a similar experience, with their tournament running the following three days at Thompson’s Gordon Beard Arena and ending in a fourth-place finish.
Like the boys, the girls dominated round-robin play with 8-0 and 4-1 wins over Team North and Team South #2 on Thursday to finish first in Pool B.
Their tournament continued with a 4-2 win over Team West #1 in Friday’s quarterfinals before falling 11-3 to Winnipeg Gold that evening in the semifinals.
They then got a rematch with Team South #2 for the bronze medal the next morning, starting with a 1-0 Team East lead heading into the third period.
Team South, however, flipped the game in the third with three unanswered goals to defeat Team East 3-1 and claim bronze.
Later that morning, Team Winnipeg Gold defeated Team Winnipeg Blue 5-1 to win the U14 girls gold medal.
