In sports vernacular, it is often said that “you don’t win silver, you lose gold”.
More than 500 Cambrian College men’s volleyball faithful in attendance for the OCAA final this past Sunday in Sudbury will gladly debate the validity of that statement.
Facing a Humber Hawks team that came in as four time defending provincial champions (they were silver medal winners the two years prior to that), a team which posted a record of 16-2 and dropped 12 sets all year (six less than the next nearest team), the Cambrian men knew they were in tough – even on their home court.
The fact that they had even advanced to the gold medal game while integrating three rookies into their starting lineup this year and leaning heavily upon a pair of sophomores to help lead the attack already represented a season that exceeded expectations for the Shield.
Yet here they were, two and a half sets into the gold medal game, trading blows dead even with the mighty Hawks as a jam-packed Cambrian gymnasium went berserk with every Shield point.
In the end, Humber would pull away, full merit for a 31-29, 20-25, 25-18, 25-13 victory. But this was anything but a defeated Shield side that soaked in every last moment of interaction with fans, teammates, even opponents in the minutes that lingered following the final point.
“That was incredible,” beamed second year right side Liam Hansen, rewarded for an outstanding weekend in being named to the championship all-star team along with veteran middle Jason Diotte. “The atmosphere, all the fans, the seats were filled, it was so loud; it was crazy.”
“This game, especially, it felt like it was slow-motion for me, like it was going on forever. It was great – I loved it.”
A graduate of Lasalle Secondary who now has an OCAA silver medal to accompany the pair of bronze medals that Cambrian claimed the last two years, graduating senior Kurtis Brisebois can appreciate more than most just how special his team’s run to the final was in 2024-2025.
“Humber is a great, great team,” said the 6’1” left-side attacker. “We stuck with them for the first two sets and kind of lost gas about halfway through the third and into the fourth.”
In the end, a man who has seen it all via a lifetime spent in the sport knows full well that all you can ask of your athletes is to perform at the very best when it matters the most – and that, Cambrian most definitely did.
“The whole goal this year was always the end of the year,” suggested OCAA Men’s Volleyball Coach of the Year, Dale Beausoleil. “It’s all about progression and peaking at the right time – and I thought we peaked at the right time.”
“I thought we played phenomenal, other than the last set.”
The key, as it so often is, came down to accurate passing, not the easiest thing to do when the ball is travelling at service speeds that limit reaction times down to fractions of seconds.
“We needed to get that first pass up to be able to run our offense, to establish our middles and open it up for our left side and right side,” said Hansen. “We had to serve receive well because they serve bombs,” coach Beausoleil continued.
“They are so athletic and blessed with some of the top players in the league. If we could pass, we could stay with them.”
For a team in transition, the season delivered far more than was initially envisioned.
“At the beginning of the year, we weren’t thinking that we might have a “second half with no losses” kind of season,” stressed Brisebois. “We thought it wasn’t going to be maybe a full rebuild but a lot of developing because we had a lot of new people coming in.”
“It was just getting everybody used to it, getting the reps in,” added Hansen. “When we got back from Cuba and Quebec (the team trained over the Christmas holidays in warmer climate and then competed at a top-end tournament at Limoilou before returning to OCAA play in early January), we were just ready to go.”
And go they did, winning their final ten regular season games to finish the year at 14-4, subsequently upending the St Clair Saints in their Saturday night semi-final, 25-14, 25-19, 15-25, 27-25. Humber looked very much “Humber-like” in their semi-final, grounding the Fanshawe Falcons 25-15, 25-17, 25-13.
The ensuing crescendo the next day reverberated throughout the entire New Sudbury campus.
“It was absolutely electric this weekend,” said Brisebois. “Ever since Dale as been the coach here, there have been more and more people coming out to watch and support us. We struggled sometimes when teams go on a run but having all of that support in the stands helped us snap out of it.”
As the dust settled, perspective was paramount, with Cambrian athletes and staff alike quick to provide some very accurate context.
“With a game that you are so passionate about, you can get worked up and fired up and it’s easy to get angry or upset,” acknowledged Hansen. “Today, I really tried to focus on the fact that we were playing a sport that we love, so just go out there and have fun.”
“The kids stayed so positive; I was so proud of them,” added Beausoleil. “Even in that last set when we were getting our asses kicked, we were not quitting, we were not giving up. We talked about enjoying the moment because the crowd was incredible – and this doesn’t happen very often.”
The 2024-2025 edition of the Cambrian men’s volleyball silver medal winning team includes: Sam George, Liam Sampson, Cale Bast, Cohen Gillett, Jonus Obrigewitsch, James Tse, Liam Hansen, Colin Lindner, Alwin Anthony, Ethan Lalonde, Kyle Perreault, Jason Diotte, James Welsh, Kurtis Brisebois, Sebastien Tremblay, Conor Dorsey and the team staff of Dale Beausoleil and assistant coaches Scott Thomas, Chris Chedore, Brielle Chicoine and Brock Peters.
