A three-goal second period helped the Penticton Heat bantam B lacrosse team advance to provincials.
It wasn’t easy for the Heat against the North Okanagan Legends in Summerland Wednesday night. After earning a 5-1 victory in Armstrong on June 25, the Heat seemed to take their opponent for granted, according to coach Cliff Shortreed, who tried to warn them not to the game. The team won 5-4, but trailed 2-1 after the first period.
“We came out flat, it was bad,” said Shortreed, adding that the win in Armstrong was among their best efforts.
The second period ended up being a different story.
“They played one of their best periods in a long time,” said Shortreed.
Offence came from Aiden Canada with two goals, Jace Canada, Carson Shortreed and Ethan Finlayson with one each.
The final period was mediocre in Shortreed’s opinion. The teams traded goals and then with five minutes remaining, the Legends were handed a five-minute major.
“They still didn’t give up,” he said. “They scored shorthanded to make it 5-4. We basically rode it out.”
Shortreed told his players that there is no guarantee that provincials, being held in Delta July 19 to 21, was going to be any easier. One of the things that the Heat coach has stressed is discipline. During the series, they had to sit one player for a period after taking a bad penalty.
“The kids came up with the team rule that if you are undisciplined, you sit out a period,” he said. “Same thing goes for being late.”
The Heat are slowly improving at controlling their emotions. It’s a young group (aged 12 to 14) that Shortreed coaches, with three returning players and three who were promoted from peewee.
Between their series with the Legends, the Heat competed in Cranbrook’s Chris Watson tournament and earned silver.
“We had a great tournament,” said Shortreed. “I’m very proud of them.”
The Heat’s peewee team has a play down in Merritt on Saturday. If they win, they advance to provincials in Kamloops July 10 to 14. The novice level doesn’t have provincials, but that Heat team is traveling to Burnaby for the Jack Crosby Tournament held July 4 to 7.