Castlegar beats Comox Valley 5-4 to win bronze at Cyclone Taylor Cup

Penalty problems once again prove undoing of host team

Everybody loves a parade down main street. But nobody loves

a parade to the penalty box at the hockey rink. And the latter proved the

undoing of the Comox Valley Glacier Kings at the 2013 Cyclone Taylor Cup.

The host Yetis dropped the bronze medal game at the B.C.

Junior B championship 5-4 to the Castlegar Rebels Sunday morning at the Comox

Valley Sports Centre. With little rest after their Saturday night loss to the

Victoria Cougars, and despite being outshot 17-10 in the first period, the

Icemen jumped out to a  3-0 lead before

the game was seven minutes old.

But the KIJHL champ Rebels were far from done. Outshooting

the Glacier Kings 17-4 in the second stanza, they closed the gap to 3-2 then

scored three unanswered goals in the second period (two on the power play) to

take a 5-3 lead. Their shots on goal domination continued in the third, as they

out-gunned the Yetis 13-7. However, Rylan Ball tallied his first goal of the

tourney at 11:54 of the third to make it a one-goal game.

With goalie Michael Hails dashing in and out of the net in

favour of the extra attacker as the final seconds ticked down, the Glacier

Kings came close to forcing overtime on a couple of chances but could not slip

the disc past Connor Beauchamp and finished the tourney with an 0-4 record. The

Rebels finished at 2-2, with both their wins coming at the expense of the

Icemen. They beat the Yetis 3-1 in Thursday’s first round of round-robin play.

Comox

Valley captain Nick

Tupper finished with three points (1g, 2a) while Jack Kennelly had two helpers.

They were the Glacier Kings’ Players of the Game. Sheldon Brett and Tyson

Rennie had the other G-Kings’ goals. Castlegar Players of the Game were Jamie

Vlanich (2g, 1a) and  team captain Erik

Alden (1g, 1a).

After playing a disciplined first game at the tourney, the

Glacier Kings could not avoid the sin bin in their ensuing three games, and

with the top three B.C. Junior B teams in town, that spelled bad news as the

G-Kings’ penalty kill was no match for the efficient power plays they faced on

what seemed to be an almost constant basis.

The gold medal game of the tourney goes at 2:30 p.m. today

at the Sports Centre, with the PJHL champ Richmond Sockeyes (3-0) taking on the

VIJHL champ Victoria Cougars (2-1).

Comox Valley Record