The underdog.
It's a term used to describe a competitor thought to have little chance of winning a fight or a contest. It's used quite often in sports and this week can be related to two Cape Breton hockey teams.
It was a difficult regular season for the Joneljim Cougars.
The team spent most of the Nova Scotia Major Bantam Hockey League season in last place in the 12-team league, but things changed in January.
Following the Christmas break, the Cougars found the win column more frequently. Despite finishing with only nine wins on the year, the team was able to move ahead of the Dartmouth Whalers for 11th place.
From an outsider looking in at the team, it seems as though the young club began believing in themselves, knowing they could compete in the league.
As the regular season wrapped up, the Cougars were faced with an uphill battle in the opening round of the playoffs. The team was tasked with the challenge of playing the second-place St. Margarets Bay Gulls, a team which finished 29 points ahead of them in the standings.
For some teams, it would have been easy to pack up the gear and call it a season when you're playing a strong team like the Gulls, but that's not what the Cougars did.
Determined to catch the league by storm and advance to the league provincial tournament, the Cougars stunned the Gulls with a 5-4 overtime win at the Emera Centre Northside in North Sydney on Feb. 29.
The best-of-three series shifted to St. Margarets Bay last weekend for a possible two games, but the third game wasn't needed. The Cougars completed the series sweep with a 2-1 win.
The Cougars are believed to have made league history with their series win. According to available data, the team has become the lowest seed to ever win a playoff series. Data from the 2011-12 playoffs was not available.
Now the Cougars are off to the provincial championship tournament later this week in Antigonish.
From an outsider looking in at the team, it seems as though the young club began believing in themselves, knowing they could compete in the league.
Meanwhile, the Cape Breton Capers women's hockey team was a surprise at the Atlantic Collegiate Hockey Association championship in Montague, P.E.I., on the weekend.
Returning to the league for the first time in three years, the Capers program was using this season as a stepping stone for years to come — hopefully, one day moving to the Atlantic University Sport conference.
The Capers entered the three-day Atlantic championship tournament with a 2-5-1 record in the regular season. The team's victories coming against both the Acadia Axewomen, who were considered the favourites going into the event, and Holland College Hurricanes.
Cape Breton began the three-team tournament Saturday, eliminating Acadia, who had lost to Holland College in overtime Friday night, with a 4-3 win. The Capers finished the round robin with a 5-1 loss to Holland College.
In the final, the Capers returned the favour, handing the Hurricanes a 3-1 loss on the back of Glace Bay product Leah Byrne, who scored all three goals for the Cape Breton team on their way to the championship.
The win marked the Capers first women's hockey championship title since 2013.
The program is still a few years away from being able to possibly compete at the AUS level, but winning a championship is never a bad step for a university, who hopes having a women's hockey team may help with potential recruitment in the future.
Both the Cougars and Capers were underdogs in their respective playoffs and league championship tournament, but like great local teams, they showed Cape Breton heart, never backing down from the challenge and prevailing to the top.
Jeremy Fraser covers sports for the Cape Breton Post. If you have a column idea, sports story or would like to give feedback about this week's Sports Chat, contact Jeremy by emailing [email protected] or follow @CBPost_Jeremy on Twitter.
