I feel like a winner

Before I go any further, I think it is important to acknowledge some of the hard work done by my fellow coaches these past months. Peter, who runs the operation, is the best coach I have ever worked with or played under, and his commitment to the team is stupendous. Luke who does everything under the stars to make sure everything goes right, and in 3 years basically everything has gone right. Gary, who's knowledge and experience have been invaluable to a young group of athletes. And Benny and John, new/old additions this season who have been invaluable helping develop and assessing our younger players. Fantastic year gentlemen. OK, now that that is out of the way...

Who ever said winning isn't everything, hasn't lost a few times and then won again. Let me tell you something: even if winning isn't everything, it sure feels really good when you do win.

The Queen's Gaels Men's Varsity Rugby team, of which I am an assistant coach, beat the Western Mustangs in the OUA final last weekend. The game was awesome, as Queen's erased a second-half deficit of 9 points to win 23-19. Even more impressive was the final 5 minutes, played almost entirely within the 5m before the Queen's tryline and Western being denied on the last play of the game. The final series involved 13 consecutive phases, and a 23 second ruck before the whistle was blown. Pretty fantastic stuff. For Peter Hugenbois, our head coach, the victory represents something extra special. It is his first championship in his 6 years as head coach, and he played on the last Queen's team to win the championship in 2001. He got mobbed as the final whistle blew, and almost lost his glasses as a result.

Queen's allowed an early try off a handling mistake by Mike Wong Jr. (no actual relation to me... hence why we call him Jr.), who otherwise played a stellar game. A score by semi-import winger Scottie Kyle made it 5-7 a few minutes later. Western then responded with another try and convert to make the score 5-14. On the last play of the half, Graeme Dibden cross-kicked into the corner and after a fortunate bounce, Zack Pancer ran the ball in for another score. We missed the convert and went into half time down 10-14. Western scored at the 50 minute mark of the second half, and things looked momentarily grim for Queen's. However, Scottie Kyle, Mike Wong Jr., and in particular Chris Barrett were able to find multiple gaps and decimate the Western backline, with Barrett making 3 huge gains, 2 of which resulted in tries. With Queen's now up 23-10 (an early second half penalty was also slotted by Ryan Kryune) the name of the game was defence, highlighted by the final stand in the dying minutes of the game.

Basically it was a fantastic day with many supporters in the stands, including many current and past players, as well as other alumni, family and friends. Donna even made the trip down, and despite her lack of enthusiasm for most rugby games, could also be found on the field celebrating with everyone else. She commented on the excitement of the game. Almost too exciting for me.

For all those people who say winning isn't everything, here's what I think. Try working exceptionally hard for something. Devoting hours each and every day for months, competing against other people who have done the same thing. Then, at the very end, when you know that despite a perfect season, the quality of the group of people you have been working with, and the colossal amount of support you have received from dozens of people, that you have still have to work extra hard in order to be successful, you try telling me it wasn't worth it or that winning isn't important.

I gotta tell you. I felt pretty good this week.

Stay Frosty.