There’s good news and not-so-good news for the bantam A Tyees following tiering play on Vancouver Island.
Starting with the latter, forward Damian Rennie was lost for a few weeks after sustaining a broken finger in a Sept. 29 game. As well, the team went 0-3 in games against Tier 1 opponents.
The good news for the Booster Juice-sponsored hockey team is its 3-1 record against Tier 2 clubs.
“Those are the teams we’ll be facing in the playoffs,” said head coach Scott Kratzmann. “We lost our three games against Tier 1 opponents, but each of those games has helped to identify areas of focus for our practice plans.”
On Sept. 28, at the Rod Brind’Amour Arena, the Tyees hosted Nanaimo’s Tier 2 squad and skated to a convincing 6-1 victory.
First-year goalie Carson Bjorgsford earned the win in net. Campbell River took an early lead on the power play when Liam Rivett’s slapshot from the point was deflected past the Nanaimo goalie by Will McLean.
The 1-0 lead held to the ice break and Campbell River’s offence got into gear. Nifty passes from Lukas Lund to Brady Kratzmann put the puck on Owen Boyd’s stick and he made no mistake as he buried it for a 2-0 lead.
In the third period, Tyler Dickson was granted a penalty shot and gave the Tyees a 3-0 advantage when he wired the puck top shelf.
Defender Olivia Knowles made it 4-0 with assists going to Kratzmann and Boyd, before Nanaimo got on the scoreboard with a power play marker.
But that was it for the visitors. Dickson fired his second goal of the game and then Rivett went end-to-end to round out the scoring for the Tyees which outshot Nanaimo 49-18.
It was a different story at home on Sept. 29, when the Tyees got thumped by Victoria’s Racquet Club. The visitors out-shot and out-scored the locals by a wide margin.
Campbell River’s lone goal came from McLean with assists to Rennie and Dickson.
Last Sunday, the Tyees headed south for the final tiering game against Saanich Braves. This one started with a bit of a speed-rush from the Braves that the Tyees withstood admirably.
Jacob Hartley appeared to score for Campbell River on a lob shot from the point that crossed the goal line, but the referees said the net was off and disallowed the goal.
Saanich came right back and put one behind goalie Bellefleur on the short-side to take a 1-0 lead.
Penalties cost the Tyees as the Braves tallied twice with the man advantage and then added another to go up 4-0. Another power play goal made it 5-0, before Campbell River finally scored.
In the third period, Jaxon Ward got the puck to Matthew Leard who put it back to Parker at the point. His shot found the back of the net and the Tyees were on the scoreboard.
They scored another when Lund fed Dickson whose one-timer rippled the twine. The final was 5-2 Braves.
The Campbell River Booster Juice Bantam A Tyees head to Port Moody for a tournament this Thanksgiving weekend. The team extends a huge thanks to those who donated to the team’s bottle drive last weekend.
