Amy Main was in good spirits after the Penticton female midget Vees lost 5-1 to the Richmond Ravens.
The Vees didn’t advance to the semifinal round of the provincial championships hosted at Memorial Arena going winless in three games.
“It was such a rush. To be there with my team in my final game in minor hockey is awesome,” said Main, the Vees captain who celebrated with teammates by polishing off non-alcoholic sparkling juice. “To be able to host it too is pretty cool.”
Nevada Dynneson set up Cedar Carter to break Ruth Shihundu’s shutout late in the third period Wednesday night.
“It was awesome,” said Main. “It was everybody who worked for that one.”
Among the things Main said they did well against the Ravens was communication and working as a team. Even with the game out of reach, player support never wavered. The best part of the championship for Main was that they held their own and had strong performances, showing the other teams that they belonged.
In the opener on Monday, they lost 2-1 against Terrace, the winner scored late in the third. Faith Stark was strong in goal and duplicated her performance in a 1-0 loss to Cranbrook.
“For me, I scored the first goal for our team in the tournament, so that was pretty big,” said Main, who kept the puck from the final game.
Main said playing in the championship was amazing and that she loved the experience of facing top teams.
“It’s been really cool,” said Main, the lone graduating Vee.
Stark had a great time and felt the team played well.
“I had lots of fun stopping them (the Ravens). They had some pretty good shots,” said Stark, who wants to experience playing in another provincial championship.
The Vees goalie said they were happy with their play considering how far they have come as a first-year rep team. The group made strides with their skill development. That is something that coach Shawn Carter said was evident over the three days.
“The whole tournament they competed their hardest. They brought everything to the table,” said Carter, who felt they had a chance to win their first two games. “The girls confidence grew leaps and bounds. We’re expecting big things next year. We had a young and inexperienced team. It’s great for them to experience this.”
The Ravens defeated the Oceanside North Island Impact 3-0 to win the championship. The game was scoreless after two periods as the goalies put on a show. Yvonne Mikulcik scored the championship winner seven seconds into the period as she was setup by Marisa Chau. Mikulcik scored again at 14:54 on a feed from Natalie Lester and Chau scored the final goal.
Taking the third-place game was Williams Lake 3-2 over Terrace in overtime. Caitlyn Ray scored as she was setup by Breanna Uphill and Stephanie Martin. Terrace opened the scoring on a goal by Ashley Kuehne. Grace Kennedy gave Terrace a 2-0 lead going into the second period. Williams Lake erased the lead on goals by Shian Remanente and Elizabeth Davies.