The Terrace Totem Ford Midget Reps went nearly undefeated at the Richmond International Midget Tournament over the holiday break, losing their first and only game of the tournament to another northern team, the Prince George Cougars, in double overtime of the Tier 2 gold medal final.
While the Terrace team came just shy of gold, their performance at the tournament was noteworthy – six wins (the majority of those blow outs), one overtime loss, with 51 goals for (by far the highest) while only allowing 11 goals against (the lowest in the Tier 2 division). The team was at the low end of the spectrum for penalty minutes, with just 77 for the entire tournament.
The tournament saw teams from across B.C. as well as teams from the United States compete Dec. 26 through Dec. 31.
Terrace's first game and win of the tournament set the tone for the rest of the weekend, a 9-0 blowout against the Everett Jr. Silvertips, hailing from Washington State, on Dec. 27.
The next day, seven was Totem Ford's lucky number, as they beat the North Delta Sundevils and the Richmond Midget Blues 7-0 in each game.
On Sunday, California Wave was the first team able to find the back of Terrace's net – getting on the board at 4:53 in the second to make it 4-1 for Terrace. Terrace would go on to win 9-2.
Then Terrace would go up against the Semiahmoo Midget Ravens A3 in the quarterfinals, winning 9-3.
And later that day they'd meet the North Delta Sundevils in the semi-final, taking that game 6-1 to go into the goal medal final against Prince George.
Terrace would open up scoring in the first, with a goal by Hunter Johnson 6:26 in, and another with just over six minutes left in the first by Cole Motschilnig (assist to Colin Bell), giving them a 2-0 lead going into the second.
Two quick goals by the Cougars at 6:26 and 7:25 would tie it at two – but two more goals by Johnson and Motschilnig would put Terrace at 4-2 finishing the second.
The Cougars would answer the call in the third – making it 4-3 at 13:50 and tying it up with just a minute and 15 seconds left in the game.
It would be nearly 37 minutes later, in the final minutes of the second overtime, before the score would be settled in Prince George’s favour – 5-4 for the Cougars tough to swallow for Terrace. Terrace’s Ryan Roseboom, Colin Bell, Liam Albright, and Johnson, would be the tournament’s top four point leaders, with goalies Dion Johnston and Bobby Milligan on top as well.