When the Notre Dame Argos need a defenceman, the club has been calling on Whitehorse’s Craig Berube to fill the role.
Most recently Berube got the call for the Argoes’ biggest game of the season.
Berube suited up for what became the deciding game in the AAA Midget Saskatchewan Provincial Championships.
The Argos defeated the Battleford Stars 3-2 to win the best-of-five series 3-1 in North Battleford on Saturday.
“It was really exciting, it was an awesome experience for me,” said Berube.
Berube, who plays for the Notre Dame Argos AA team during the regular season, recently wore the ‘C’ as captain of Yukon’s bronze winning midget hockey team at the Arctic Winter Games two weeks ago in Fairbanks, Alaska.
The 17-year-old had one goal and four assists at the Games and was the top-scoring defenceman for the Yukon team in Fairbanks.
Leading the Yukon midgets gave the 6’1”, 190-pound defenceman the confidence boost he needed for the championship game on Saturday, he said.
“That was huge for me,” said Berube. “I had a really good time with all the guys there. I got back into the game and really felt I could skate with the puck and make smart plays with it. I brought that down here and I felt that really helped me.”
Berube, who is Whitehorse Mustangs rep team alumni, is studying at the Athol Murray College of Notre Dame in Wilcox, Sask., a school unaffiliated with the Argos teams.
He was also called up to the AAA Argos for two regular season games and three in the playoffs - one in each round - including Saturday’s win.
The Argos will now go through regional qualifying for the Telus Cup national AAA midget championships.
Berube also played for Yukon’s gold-winning midget team at the 2012 Arctic Games in Whitehorse.
Yukon’s midget males defeated Nunavut 5-4 for the bronze at the Arctic Games two weeks ago in Fairbanks.
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com