Morning Star Staff
The North Okanagan White Knights celebrated Christmas early by taking silver at the Salmon Arm Atom Rec Hockey Tournament last weekend.
The Knights fell 6-5 to the Langley Bandits in the gold-medal game with the Bandits getting the winner with one minute left in overtime.
“I’m extremely proud of all of the kids, and how much heart, hard work, and determination they displayed throughout the whole tournament,” said Knights’ coach Chad Pounder.
Cody Collette pulled the hat trick in the final, singles going to Kohen Pounder and Aidan Wattie.
The Knights grounded the Kelowna Ice Hawks 5-2 in their final preliminary tilt Sunday with Pounder getting three snipes and singles going to Wattie and Alex Hart.
Collette counted five goals and Pounder three as the Knights zapped the Salmon Arm Wolfpack 13-5 in their tournament opener. Wattie and Waylen Stowards each recorded deuces and Hart scored once.
In Game 2 Saturday, Stowards pocketed a pair and Wattie got one as the Knights tripped up the Kelowna Devils 3-1.
Stowards supplied four goals and Hart three as North Okanagan bounced the Winfield Bruins 11-2 Saturday afternoon. Collette, Wattie, Pounder and Phoenix Cardinal registered singles.
Brayden Rypkema was stellar in net for all five games.
Meanwhile, the Butcher Boys Devils smothered North Okanagan Knights 11-3 in Pee Wee Super League play Sunday at Kal Tire Place.
Kristi Vassberg provided marvellous goaltending and the Devils got four snipes from Ashton Sutch.
Rory O’Brien and Auston Vandenbrand each provided deuces, while Dylan Hatalcik and Ty Whitney added singles.
Red-hot Austin Moore bagged two goals as the Vernon Authentic Trophy & Plaque Hawks stopped the Corbett Office Plus Kings 4-2 in Midget Super League play Sunday night at Civic Arena.
Sean Howard and Landen Harison added singles for the 5-5-1 Hawks, who got fabulous netminding from Dalton Stenberg. Aaron Botterill and Liam Hennig, on a sweet dangle and top-cheddar shot, replied for the 6-4 Kings.
Some amazing passing plays by Brandon Lehoux and Alyssa Raccine resulted in many quality scoring chances for the Kings, who got a strong defensive showing from Lucas Towers.
Blackburn Excavating of Salmon Arm ambushed the Kings 9-4 Saturday night at Priest Valley Arena.
Nathan Tully pulled the hat trick, while Botterill had a single.
Blackburn (7-2-1) bounced the Nedco Blazers 4-1 Sunday afternoon at Civic.
D- man Gaman Nijjar was player-of-the-game for the Blazers (4-7), who got a goal from Dexter Weiten.
The Kings iced the Blazers 5-2 in inner-city play Monday night at Civic.
Nick Hartwig, Isaac White, Landon Currie Noah Cooper and Brogan Houston handled the Kings’ attack in front of a solid Ethan Huizinga.
Chapperon Chillihitzia and Nijjar replied for the Blazers.
In late-reported Midget Tier 3 play, the Coca-Cola Vipers parlayed two-goal outings from Chris Aldrich and Dayton Bryan into a 6-2 win over the host West Kelowna Warriors Sunday. Jake Brewer and Ethan Joe added singles.
The 15-0 Vancouver Comets visit the Thompson Okanagan Lakers in a three-game BC Hockey Female Midget AAA League series starting tonight (5:30) at Kal Tire Place. The teams play Saturday, 4:45 p.m. at KTP and Sunday, 10:30 a.m. at Priest Valley Arena. The Lakers (6-4-5) are unbeaten in 11 games.
At the halfway point of the season the Comets at 15-0 while the Lakers (6-4-5) are tied for second with the Northern Capitals