Steve Kasper reflects back on season with Yarmouth Mariners

By Tina Comeau

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

Steve Kasper considers himself to be a fortunate man. He draws that fortune from the people who surrounded him this past hockey season.

From the players, to the coaching and team staff/organization, to the fans and residents of Yarmouth…it all combined to make this the most successful year to date for the Yarmouth Junior A Mariners and an experience that Kasper, as their coach, can look back on with no regrets.

Not even the semi-final loss at the Fred Page Cup diminishes things, he says.

“At the beginning of the year, if you had said ‘You’re going to win the President’s Trophy as the first-place team and then you’re going to win the MJAHL and the Kent Cup,’ everything else is just gravy,” the former NHL player and coach says. “I was very fortunate to work with a group of very dedicated young individuals who wanted to get better, wanted to learn and I saw a group come together and work for one common goal.”

Yet while that goal was to be champions, throughout the season Kasper did what he does, he put winning and losing into perspective.

“Everyone loves to win but trust me when I tell you, when you come on the wrong side of the score, the sun is still going to come up the next day,” he says.

Which is why then, when asked what fell apart at the Fred Page Cup – when the favoured Yarmouth squad failed to make it to the final – Kasper says he doesn’t think anything fell apart. As the MJAHL champs, the Mariners went into the eastern junior A championship playing against other league champions and a host team, the latter of which had a couple of weeks to rest, be healthy and practice.

“We played against Pembroke who were ranked first in the nation. I think we gave them everything we possibly could, we lost the game in overtime,” he says of the 3-2 score. “If you look at it, neither team won a game after that, it took a lot out of us, and I think it took a lot out of them from a fatigue factor.”

As for the officiating, which hit a sore spot with the Yarmouth fans, Kasper says simply it is what it is.

“I never say you won a game or lost a game because of the officials. You’ve got to learn to deal with that, they have a tough job to do,” he says.

And not to take anything away from Pictou who won the Fred Page Cup – and who Kasper gives full marks to for being ready when they had to be and the better team when they needed to be – he looks back to the Mariners-Crushers playoff series.

“We lost the first game and won the next four. In a tournament you don’t have that luxury,” he says, putting more stock in Yarmouth’s league title, which represents an entire season’s work, as opposed to just a few days.

That work ethic also went beyond the ice surface, Kasper says, noting another goal this year was to have a team that fans could be as proud of off the ice, as on the ice. He thinks they achieved that through the team’s involvement in Icy Knights, reading programs in the schools and the library, the Terry Fox cancer run and other events and programs.

It really gave deeper meaning to being the home team.

And as for the community and its support, Kasper credits the fans for also putting forward a winning effort.

“I’m very sincere when I say that support goes a long way,” he says. “When you’re playing 58 times a year, plus you’re on the bus, and I think we ended up playing around 85 games, if you don’t have that fan support it’s hard to be motivated. People think you should be ready to play, but when you’re tired and you’re bruised, it makes it a lot easier when there’s fans out there.”

As for whether he’ll be back in the fall as the Mariners’ coach, Kasper’s response is this: “You know what, everyone keeps talking about next year and we’re still celebrating this year, how about we just leave it at that.”

It’s a diplomatic response, and a coy response, and it makes you think maybe we haven’t seen the last of him yet.