Olympians coming to Apex
Apex Mountain is hosting the 2014 Canadian national championship for moguls March 27-30. Among the athletes competing are Alex Bilodeau who won gold in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, along with silver medal winner Mikael Kingsbury, Justine and Chloe Dufour-Lapointe, who captured gold and silver, respectively, for Canada and the rest of the Canadian national mogul team, including Penticton’s Andi Naude. Eligible to compete from the Apex Freestyle Club will be Brayden Kuroda and Koleton Phipps on the men’s side, Madison Parker, Mackenzie Schwinghamer and Kassidy Todd on the women’s side. AFC will also be represented by alumni which includes Connor Spence, Jordan and Joshua Kober and Kyle Parker and Mason Barzilay. The women’s side has 39 competitors, while the men’s has 57. The event is free to attend with single moguls on March 29 from 9:30 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. Dual moguls is March 30 from 9:30 a.m. to 2:15. Apex Mountain is a 30-minute drive from Penticton.
Coyotes, Storm split games
The Osoyoos Coyotes and Kamloops Storm have split the first two games of the Okanagan/Shuswap Conference final. In the opening game on March 17 in Kamloops, the Coyotes earned a 3-0 shutout. Penticton’s Lawrence Langan made 31 saves, while Colin Chmelka scored the winner and Luc Gradisar scored twice. Penticton’s Rory Neary and Jackson DeMatos each collected an assist. The Storm picked up a 4-2 night two nights later at McArthur Park Arena.
Chmelka and Wyatt Trumbley scored for the Coyotes. Neary added another assist and Langan turned aside 48 shots. The series shifts to the Coyotes’ Sun Bowl for Games 3 and 4 on Friday and Saturday at 7:35 p.m.
On the Kootenay Conference side, the Beaver Valley Nitehawks and Creston Valley Thunder Cats split the first two games at Creston’s Johnny Bucyk Arena. The Thunder Cats won Game 1 5-4. Thunder Cats goalie Kyle Michalovsky made 35 saves. The Nitehawks bounced back doubling up the Thunder Cats 6-3. Ryan Edwards had a three-point night for the winning side, while Braden Fuller, Dallas Calvin, Taylor Stafford and Mitch Foyle had two points respectively. Games 3 and 4 will be at the Beaver Valley Arena in Fruitvale on Friday and Saturday.
Ducks win Oliver tournament
The Penticton Peewee Ducks went undefeated in five games to take the South Okanagan tournament held March 7-9. This was the Ducks’ second consecutive tournament win, as they placed first in Kamloops in February. The Ducks are coached by Warren Potter, with assistant Todd Whyte. Making up the team are Xander Whyte, Jake Stocker, Daniel Martin, Logan Anderson-Fraser, Eric Kwakernaak, Matthew Olsen, Ethan Clutterbuck, Braeden Dovauo, Devon Potter, Drew Sherwood, Kieran Simpson, Maiya Anutooshkin, Armaan Dhaliwal, Udaibir Kahlon, Kai Ballance, Ayden Chura, Jordan Nemes and Ethan Barillaro.