The Terrace Totem Ford Midget Reps squared off against their toughest competitor this season, Smithers, on Smithers’ home ice for the first game of Northwest Zones on Friday, Feb. 22.
The game was very tight, with Smithers in the lead by one in the third.
With only four seconds left on the clock Terrace tied it up, making it 2-2 with a goal from Nikita Desjarlais assisted from Ryan Roseboom and Curtis Hull.
Saturday’s play started with a game against Rupert, last year’s zone champs, who also put forward a strong game against them but Terrace prevailed in the end with a 6-5 victory.
The afternoon game saw Terrace playing Kitimat with a final score of 10-1 for Terrace.
But, wait, not so fast. Due to an infraction by Terrace from a previous game suspension, this game ended up being forfeited and the decision was made that Terrace and Kitimat had to replay the game the next day.
In the rematch, Terrace defeated Kitimat once again with a score of 7-2, advancing Terrace to the final game against Smithers later on Sunday.
Terrace then squared off once again against the team whom they had never beaten all regular season long – Smithers.
The game was very tight with intense action at both ends. Terrace was up 1-0 after the first period with a goal from Colin Bell assisted from Colten Braid.
Smithers answered back with a power play goal late in the second, tying the game 1-1.
But Terrace fought back hard and scored the go-ahead goal with 39 seconds left on the clock in the second period, a beamer slap shot, power play goal from Colten Braid assisted by Austin Turner and Kyle Jephson.
Smithers answered back on another power play in the third to tie the game again with only five minutes left in regulation time, taking the game to OT.
With outstanding goaltending at both ends Terrace’s Brandon Thandi’s played a solid game in net.
But finally, at the six-minute mark in OT, Terrace delivered. The sudden death overtime win came after a beautiful set up from Ryan Roseboom and Nikita Desjarlais to Austin Turner for the Zone Final victory goal.
“These young men dug deep to achieve this win, they played with tremendous heart and sportsmanship,” said team manager Darren Munsen. “True testament that hard work pays off.”
“It was a sweet victory for these fine young men of Terrace as this was the first time beating Smithers all season long, but in the end this was the one and only time they had to prevail,” he said.
“This was the game that meant the most and what the boys had trained hard for all season long.”
The team had a fantastic season, winning 42, losing two, and tying four.
UPDATE: While it looked like Terrace was heading to provincials, an appeal by Smithers to disqualify Terrace from the tournament was accepted by BC Hockey's appeals committee over the weekend. Terrace has now appealed to Hockey Canada. More to come.