The Red Deer Sutter Fund Chiefs struck gold in New Brunswick last month.
They won the Esso Cup national U18 AAA female hockey championship in thrilling fashion with a 4-3 overtime triumph against Ontario’s Stony Creek Sabres on Saturday, April 25th. Forward Jensyn Stephenson from Bentley scored the national title winning goal.
Red Deer’s roster included forward Ceder Thorburn and Kendall Hammer from Olds, along with defender Alena McEvoy from Carstairs.
Thorburn caps off her minor hockey career in fine fashion as a national champ. The 18-year-old forward had an assist on the winning goal in O.T. versus the Sabres. She says “yeah I just couldn’t believe it, like this was our dream as little kids to be in that situation and then actually being able to do it and do it with the best girls I’ve ever been able to do it with, like they are just a great group and it just means a lot winning it with them.” Thorburn will continue her hockey career next season at Red Deer Polytechnic where she will be enrolled in the Bachelor of Education program.
A 16-year-old blueliner Kendall Hammer posted six points in seven games at the Esso Cup tournament. She finished tied for the most assists at the Esso Cup tourney with five. Kendall was able to celebrate the national title victory on the ice in New Brunswick along with her Dad – Mark – who is an Assistant Coach for the Sutter Fund Chiefs. She says “the last games were a little scary but, at the end of the day, we all have faith in each other. Overtime we practiced it quite a lot at the end of the year and I think we’d just like calm ourselves down and not worry about and we just got it done.”
When asked if there was a part of the tournament that it felt like the Chiefs started to get rolling? Mark says “I think when we played Moncton – was that our second or third game?. When we beat Moncton. It wasn’t like handily, but we controlled them and had a very strong game. As soon as we kind of did that I knew we were on the right track and we could do some damage there.” He says “I don’t think the national part has really sunk in. It probably won’t sink in for a while. Just seeing everybody, everybody is is happy for the girls and the team. Seeing how much work they put in and just being rewarded has been nice and everybody has been good about it.”
Kendall and Mark are both planning on being back with the Sutter Fund Chiefs as they attempt to defend the Esso Cup title. He says “I think same thing. There is quite a few girls returning to the team so we should have another strong team again next season D on Morrison is going to be coaching again so, you know, the coaching is there and we have lots of returning girls. They’ll have a strong season again next year and see where it happens next year.”
The Sutter Fund Chiefs went a perfect 7-0 during the grueling week long tournament en route to winning the 2026 Esso Cup.
Listen to 96.5 The Ranch’s conversation with Ceder Thorburn.
The Ranch also spoke with Kendall Hammer.
Hear more audio with Mark Hammer.
