Finishing eighth among 14 teams during a peewee Tier 3 tournament at home didn’t bother coach Imre Togyi.
“Very happy with where the team is, the results that we got,” said Togyi, whose team lost its final game to North Okanagan. “We executed pretty well. Had some good competition.”
Togyi said the tournament featured strong teams such as Trail, who they defeated, and Port Alberni, who they tied. Their other loss came against Revelstoke.
“We should have had two victories though,” said Togyi. “Got scored on with two minutes to go in the third period.”
Entering the tournament, Togyi wanted to see his team win half its games.
“Really what we wanted to do here was have the kids compete together as a team,” he explained. “For peewee sometimes that is difficult. Lots of individual play. It was actually fantastic. Kids had fun playing. The tournament was extremely well run.”
Bantam Tier 2 Vees
The Murray GM bantam Vees took second in a tournament in Trail, losing 3-2 in overtime in the championship game to Vernon Tier 1. The Vees were stunned as Vernon scored the winning goal with two seconds left while on the power play.
“It was tough,” said coach Rob McLaughlin. “I felt we outplayed them. Their coach said we had them on their heels for most of the game.”
McLaughlin said Vernon made a great shot to win the game and that he’s happy with how his team played. It’s the bantam Vees’ third tournament championship game this season.
“It’s great to play Tier 1 teams,” said McLaughlin, adding that playing teams of that calibre will only help the players improve.
Prior to the final matchup, the Vees open the tournament by crushing Spokane 9-1. Josh Maser scored three, while Lane French added two to lead the way. Ethan McLaughlin collected three assists, while Josh Maser set up two goals. In a 6-1 win against Salmon Arm, Carson Erhardt, French, Ben Olsen, Raphael Bassot, Tyler Maser and Liam McLaren scored. In an 8-0 win against Nelson, Alyck Coombes picked up the shutout, while Bassot and French scored twice to lead the offence.
Prior to facing Vernon, the Vees defeated Cranbrook 5-3. French led with two goals, while Connor Freeman and Josh Maser collected two helpers.