The Terrace Peewees took home gold after beating Kelowna in the B.C. Tier Three Provincial final in Summerland Friday, March 23.
The team chalked up a 3-1 record in the pool play early last week, beating Summerland 16-6, Whitehorse 8-0, Prince George 15-1, and then losing to Langley 3-7.
That placed them in the semi-final against the Dawson Creek Canucks, the top-ranked team which won every other game in the championship.
Dawson Creek scored one and Terrace’s Cory Mertin and Logan Kuehne each scored in the first period, making it 2-1.
Second period, both teams scored one more, with the Terrace goal buried by William McKay and putting Terrace up 3-2 going into the third.
That’s where everything let loose.
Terrace pulled away with a three-goal scoring streak at 14 minutes. Braeden Vennard, William McKay and Kelton Shinde scored one after another within the course of a minute, giving Terrace a solid 6-2 lead.
But Dawson Creek wasn’t done. Their forward player Cayden Lindstrom managed to score three goals within the last ten minutes of the game, diminishing the Terrace lead to 6-5 and nearly catching up for the win.
But the Terrace boys held on and coach Lenny Davis said they made a number of key saves and blocks to take the win.
“Dawson Creek was is definitely a more skilled team,” Davis said.
“We went up against a bigger, stronger opponent… we were the underdogs… but our boys played with a lot of grit and a lot of determination and never gave up.”
After the Kermodes managed to hold off Dawson, the Terrace boys went on to beat Kelowna 7-2 in the finals and take the championship gold.
The Terrace Midgets and Bantams also competed in provincials last week, with the Midgets claiming bronze and Bantams taking fifth out of nine teams in their championship.
Terrace Midgets
The Midget Kermodes went 3-0-1 in the round robin, beating West Vancouver 5-3, tying Mission 4-4. Then they beat Dawson Creek 4-1 and Cranbrook 10-0 to advance into the semi-final.
There they faced Powell River, falling 2-7 and dropping into the bronze medal match against Squamish, where they overcame 5-3 to take the bronze medal.
Terrace Bantams
The Kermode Bantams had a 1-2-1 record in their round robin: They lost to Nelson 1-7, beat Sunshine Coast 4-3, tied Dawson Creek 4-4, and then lost to Penticton 1-5.
Female Midgets
The regional Female Midgets Northern Eagles went 2-4 in provincials last weekend in Williams Lake. They lost to North Shore 1-4, Tri Cities 1-4, Kamloops 0-3, and Williams Lake 4-0, but they beat Vancouver Island (VIAHA) 6-2 and North East 1-0.