History

BEGINNINGS OF MIDGET FOOTBALL

SHOCK!!!

How we came to be?
2009 was the inaugural season for the Battle River Shock, however the foundations for midget football in our area were well laid dating back to 2003.

At that time, the only midget team in northern Alberta was the Tri County Freeze. It was comprised of players from the counties of Leduc, Wetaskiwin, and Camrose. The team played out of the Calgary Midget League.

In 2006, the CDMFA (Edmonton) started a midget program and The Freeze joined the group. As there was enough interest and an abundance of players, and a second team, the Chill was formed.

The 2008 season was the real regional shift for the Freeze / Chill program. The Freeze and Chill names were dropped as Leduc now had enough players to run its own team the Ti-Cats. But, to not leave us country boys out, they also allowed us to operate our own team through Leduc minor – we were named the Stray Cats.

As the team was run basically through Camrose and Wetaskiwin, it was decided that it should also be managed and funded as such. In 2009 Camrose Minor Football Society stepped up to the plate and the Battle River Shock was formed. Head Coaches, Don Loov and Maren Stevens, along with most of the Stray Cats staff came over.

Ironically, Leduc, decided to drop the Ti-Cats name and keep the Stray Cats for their 2009 team name now that we had moved on.

2009 Inaugural Season
The CDMFA has two tiered divisions of midget play. We wanted to enter tier 1, however, as a new team (not really new, but okay), the league had decided that we may fit better in the Tier 2 level and we were placed there.

By the end of regular season play, we ranked #1 in Tier 2 as we went a perfect 4 – 0 , out scoring our opponents by a total of 166 to 18. That’s an astounding average of 41.5 points scored per game to just 4.5 allowed. I think we sent a message that we could have faired just fine in Tier 1.

Unfortunately we were set back in the playoffs, when, as the top seed in Tier 2, we played the low seed of Tier 1, the St Albert Storm, and they handed us our first loss. In the finals, we faced off against the Stray Cats where they edged out a win.

Part of the problem from a team perspective was that during regular season play, we really did not have any tough games, and having to face opponents in the playoffs, who had faced some adversity, was a very good lesson.

We want to give our athletes the best competition available, so we hope that this year (2010) the league will allow us to enter Tier 1. We understand that competition will be stiff, but we are up to the challenge!

SHOCK 1st season – Spring 2009