John Paul II Collegiate Crusaders Basketball takes home the 4A Bronze Medal at HOOPLA

The Crusaders had their share of success against Humboldt through the season with three wins, but it wasn’t an easy game. Olson said he was afraid the team would take Humboldt for granted after their regular season’s success, but the team had a good mental reset at halftime.

“We brought the boys into the dressing room, let them know, this is for a lot of you seniors, this is your last chance to play high school basketball. There’s no opportunity after this.”

While it wasn’t ideal for the Crusaders to be down at halftime, it may have been beneficial to face that adversity and get a reality check.

“It’s a little bit frustrating at halftime. We knew that this wasn’t going to be something that was just given to us, and we were going to have to work for it. It’s definitely a reminder that we needed to play our best basketball, like, because they weren’t just going to roll over and give it to us.”

The Crusaders came out hot for the 88-69 win to take home the bronze medal.

Eight players graduate this year and end off their high school basketball with the bronze.

John Laudinez

Keir Ramos

Hudson Bjerkness

Nate Fransoo

Jaydan Macalino

Antonio Dudas

Mannix Mercer

Jeaus Lopez

Olson coached several of the seniors through junior and came up to the senior squad with them and had high praise for each and every one of them.

“They’re a really special group on the court. They had a ton of talent, a ton of ability, and they worked well together,” he said. “Off the court, they found ways to enjoy every single moment. Like every van trip, every hotel trip was just an absolute blast with that group. It’s going to be really sad to kind of see them move on and go to their next thing.”

John Paul II has eight boys basketball players graduating, ending off their high school basketball careers with a provincial bronze medal. (Image Credit: John Paul II Collegiate/Facebook)

The Crusaders will lose a lot of players and some size in their lineup. However, Olson said that the school had a very good development team working with the Grade 10 and 11’s this year, and he thinks they are in a good spot moving forward.

“We’re going to have to reset our culture a little bit, but I don’t feel like we’re in a bad spot in terms of players coming up…A couple of our players this year played a couple years of seniors but never really got their opportunity because they were behind Grade 12’s that are going to be up to the task next year,” he said. “It’s going to be tough to reset after losing such a talented group of seniors, but we know we’re in good hands with the next class coming up.”

While a provincial title is still the end goal, Olson is still pleased with the year his team had.

“The fact that they can get a medal in provincial basketball is something that they should be extremely proud of. It’s not an opportunity that a lot of high school basketball players get. It was cool to see them take that opportunity and do their best with that.”

MJ Central took home the gold medal in 4A, while Harvest City won the silver.

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Ryan.Lambert@pattisonmedia.com

by Ryan Lambert

John Paul II Collegiate Crusaders Basketball takes home the 4A Bronze Medal at HOOPLA

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