Morning Star Staff
The third time was the charm for the Campbell River Tyees.
River Fahey scored three times and the Tyees avenged two previous defeats to Vernon with a 5-1 win over the Sun Valley Source For Sports Vipers in the gold-medal game of the B.C. Tier 2 Bantam Hockey Championships Wednesday at the Shaw Centre in Salmon Arm.
The Vipers had been undefeated heading into the final, which included a 4-0 win over the Tyees Tuesday to wrap up the round-robin.
“We’d beat those guys twice this year but I guess the final was their night,” said Vipers head coach Brad Teale.
Corbin Hanson had the lone goal for the Vipers while Tyler Sedlacek took the loss in net.
“We outshot them but couldn’t put the puck over the line,” said Teale. “Our boys battled hard. Campbell River is a pretty physical team. They took it to us along the boards.”
Vernon advanced to the final with a 6-1 win over the Burnaby Winter Club in semifinal action Wednesday.
“It was a pretty successful season, I hope the boys see it that way,” said Teale, whose squad won tournaments in Salmon Arm, Vernon, West Kelowna and the B division at the prestigious KIBIHT tournament in Kamloops to go along with the provincial silver medal.
Nic Bolin and Nic Teale, with deuces, Eric Noren and Gavin Fleck handled Vernon’s offence against Burnaby.
Mustangs in final against North Delta
Vernon Watkin Motors Mustangs played the North Delta Sundevils for the B.C. Tier 2 Pee Wee championship Thursday afternoon in Fort St. John.
The 6-0 Mustangs advanced to the final with a 5-3 win over the Cowichan Valley Capitals in their final preliminary round game Thursday morning.
Vernon dispatched Cranbrook 12-1 Wednesday and stuffed North Delta 8-2 Tuesday.
Steel Quiring supplied 2+2 as Vernon grounded Cowichan. Jakob Jones added 1+2, while Isaac Thomas and Nick Noren contributed singles in front of Cayden Hamming.
Teja Sheldrake took the win over Cranbrook.
The Mustangs had outscored their foes 47-9 heading into the final. North Delta was second in preliminary play at 4-1-1.
Knights playing for gold
The North Okanagan Knights took on the Kamloops Blazers for the provincial Tier 4 Bantam championship in Golden Thursday night.
The Knights (5-0-1) capped off an undefeated preliminary round Thursday morning with a 3-2 win over the Whistler Winterhawks.
Griffin Evans, Carter Hittinger and Eli Dwyer scored for North Okanagan with Wyatt Fowler picking up the win in net.
The Knights dumped the Blazers 6-2 in their only game Wednesday on two goals from Brett Zbytnuik and singles from Warin Buzzell, Michael Kormany, Kord Haller and Ryan Desilets. Caedon Bellmann picked up the win in net.
Battle of the undefeated in PG
Vernon Home Hardware Centre Vipers faced the Aldergrove Bruins in a battle of 4-0 teams in the final at the B.C. Tier 2 Midget championships in Prince George Thursday night.
The Vipers advanced to the final Thursday morning with a 3-1 victory over the Williams Lake Timberwolves in one semifinal, while Aldergrove dispatched the host Prince George Cougars 7-2 in the other.
Bryce Pyle, Kyle Sherwood and Joe Eggert provided goals in the semifinal in support of Billy Cawthorn. Assists went to Logan Imrich, Carl Main and Dex Elders,
Pyle fired home a wrister top shelf for Home Hardware’s first snipe. The Vipers kept pressing but the Timberwolves goalie was stellar.
Sherwood scored a beauty midway through the third, taking the puck to the middle and using the defenceman as a screen before whipping a shot low short side.
Assists went to Eggert and Logan Imrich. Eggert found the net for the insurance goal shortly after by converting a feed from Nick Cherkowski.
The Vipers closed out round-robin play Wednesday night with a 4-2 win over the Cougars to finish preliminary play at 3-0.
The Cougars opened the scoring early in the first before Main tied it up on a nice wrist shot. Stephane Richard made it 2-1 early in the second before Prince George knotted it up.
Connor Johnston set Main up for his second goal and then Eggert made a nice move in tight to give Vernon a two-goal cushion. Goaltender Conor Webb made some outstanding stops including a brilliant glove save to hold off the hard-charging Cougars.
North Okanagan reaches final at home
In Enderby, at the B.C. Pee Wee Tier 4 championships, the host North Okanagan Knights took on the Fernie Jr. Ghostriders for the provincial title Thursday night.
The teams played to a 3-3 draw in their opening games Thursday.
The Knights booked their ticket to the final by winning the final preliminary round game, 4-2, over the Vanderhoof Bears Thursday afternoon.
A Vanderhoof win or tie would have put the Bears into the final against the Langley Eagles.
Jordan Zbytnuik, Devin Jameson, Darius Makse and Grayson Williamson scored for North Okanagan, who jumped out to a 4-0 lead.
Langley handed North Okanagan its first defeat of the tournament Wednesday night, 4-3.
Makse, Jameson and Zbytnuik scored for North Okanagan.
Rockets eliminated in semis
The B.C. Major Midget League’s regular-season champion Valley West Hawks iced the Okanagan Rockets 6-4 Sunday in Surrey to win the best-of-three semifinal series 2-1.
The Hawks won the series opener 6-2 on Friday, before the Rockets answered back with a 2-1 victory on Saturday.
Goaltender Cole Demers was the story for the Rockets, making a season-high 45 saves off Valley West.
Okanagan (23-12-5) finished fourth in the BCMML’s regular season standings, then went on to sweep the Fraser Valley Thunderbirds in the opening round of the playoffs.
Vernon F Coleton Bilodeau bagged seven goals and 22 points in 37 games, while D Powell Connor had 3-8-11.