Morning Star Staff
Big Guy Lake of Prince George grounded the Hustalen Blades of Chase 11-1 Sunday to win the Jay D. Louis Memorial Trophy and $2,400 in the Competitive Division final of the 2016 Nk’Maplqs Challenge Cup Hockey Tournament.
The Blades brushed back the Quilchena Braves of Merritt 6-5 in the semifinal game. Hustalen won $1,600 for second place and Quilchena pocketed $1,000 for third.
Other teams in the Competitive Division were the Vernon T-Birds, Vancouver Serpents, Halfway River, Caribou Canucks and the St’at’imc Predators.
Tournament All-Stars in the Competitive were: Goal: Allen Billy, Big Guy Lake. Defence: Dustin Erickson, Big Guy Lake, Jay Arnouse, Hustalen Blades. Forwards: Josh Garneau, Big Guy Lake, Byron Sam, Big Guy Lake and Brendan Colter, Quilchena Braves.
MVP was Cole Calliou of Big Guy Lake, while Donovan Nicholas of Hustalen Blades won Top Scorer and Most Sportsmanlike Player.
In the Masters Division final, the two-time defending champion Vernon T-Birds defeated Kamloops 6-5 in overtime to reclaim the Graden Alexis Memorial Trophy.
Kamloops reached the final by stopping Mid Ice Crisis of Canim Lake 10-3. The T-Birds received championship jackets, Kamloops got T-shirts and the third-place Crisis took home hats.
Other teams in the Masters Division were the Pickup Sticks, Chase Hackers, Butch’s Bandits and the Okanagan Selects.
In the Recreation Division, there were six teams entered: Westside Bears, Cyroties (Williams Lake), Enderby Black Hawks, UNN Bears (Williams Lake), Merritt Mudslingers and Stackem Hackem (Merritt).