Morning Star Staff
The Vernon Seed Orchard Ducks celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day by stopping host Wenatchee 4-2 in the finals of a Midget Rec Hockey Tournament.
Cam Strike, on a sweet point shot and Chris Gallant, with the 2-2 goal, had the early Duck goals. Steven Goebel (2+1) scored twice in the third as the Ducks complete an unbeaten USA weekend.
“The boys really stepped it up in the final and played well,” said Vernon head coach Tom Goebel. “Both teams were very well matched.”
Clayton Coles went the whole way in net with Trey Spanier in sick bay.
The Ducks clipped the Coeur d’Alene Thunder of Idaho 2-1 in the semifinal Sunday, their third game of the day. Goebel and Gallant supplied goals in front of Coles and Spanier.
Earlier Sunday, the Ducks doused the Westsound Jr. Warriors 9-0 and tied Wenatchee 2-2.
Coles took a turn playing out and supplied 1+3 in the win over the Warriors. Nikolai Negraiff pulled the hat trick, while Daniel Deshane, Strike, Tim Ufimtseff, Aaron Kerryluke, Russel Negraiff and Brett Shaigec earned singles. Goebel had two helpers.
Solomon Ivanoff and Brennan Martin, with the equalizer with five minutes to play, scored in the tie. Coles and Spanier shared the netminding.
The Ducks hopped on a bus Saturday at 2:30 a.m., caught some zees and then shaded the Spokane Storm 4-3 in a 10 a.m. tilt.
Kerryluke, with the last two goals, Gallant and Nikolai Negraiff handled the offence.
The Ducks took in the USHL game between the Wenatchee Wild and the Fresno Monsters Saturday night before 3,800 fans at the gorgeous Town Toyota Center, getting treated to a buffet dinner.
In North Okanagan Midget Super League play, the Talon Benefits Hawks netted two late goals and gained a 7-7 tie with Salmon Arm Blackburn Excavating Sunday at the Shaw Centre.
Sean Connor and Landon Munk scored twice apiece for the 10-2-1 Hawks, while Bryton Stead added 1+3 and other goals came from Luc Mitchell and captain Justin Mitchell.
D-man Braden Gilowski racked up 2+2 as the Hawks outlasted the North Okanagan Knights 8-5 Saturday at Wesbild Centre.
Stead added 2+1, while Marcus Kehler, Chase Larsen and Munk contributed singles in front of Bryce Dyck. Luc Mitchell set up three goals, whilebrothers Jeff and Justin Hiscoe each had two assists.
Kristian Currie counted 4+2 and Brenden Zupp also scored four times as the Vernon Dudes demolished the North Okanagan #1 Knights 13-1 Saturday.
Kyle Evans pocketed 1+6, while other goals came from Marcus Finn, Taylor Hamilton-Gee and Dallas Zupp. Lee Brodoway had five assists. Goaltending duties were handled by Jared Larsen and Corey Lehoux.
The Interior Savings Flyers stayed even with the Coyotes by posting a 4-1 win over the Five Star Awards Bulldogs at PV Arena.
After a back and forth first period, the 12-1 Flyers took control when Adam Roemer converted with the help of Jake Pelletier and Ryan Lazar.
Adam McIvor and Kaylan Lawrence played key roles in Roemer’s next goal. Lawrence played a strong physical game powering the puck into the Bulldogs’ zone and firing home the third goal after some stellar work from Roemer and McIvor.
Pelletier rounded out the scoring with an unassisted goal. Joseph Tronson held off a strong attack from the Bulldogs until late in the third when Connor Granger connected.
The Scotiabank Lighting (9-3-1) extended their winning streak to five games by crushing the Corbett Office Supply Spartans 8-2 Sunday.
Branden Lehoux, Landon Currie and Brett Lambert each bagged a deuce for the Bolts with Lehoux getting his second snipe with one second left in the first period, putting the bankers ahead 3-0. Rowan Wood pounced on a rebound and backhanded a nice shot past Spartan goalie Chris Moore to make it 4-0, but the Spartans (3-9-1) battled back with Alex Laurila and Darius Stone setting up Aaron Botterill who went five-hole.
Cam MacKenzie also scored for the Bolts, while Currie had three helpers and Sean Reid two.
Jim Brodoway had the other Corbett goal on a rebound after some great puck movement by the brother/sister combination of Nikala and Noah Debalinhard.
The Bannister GM Flames bowed 5-0 to the New Westminster Royals in Sunday morning’s semifinal of the Kamloops Winter Pee Wee Rec Classic at McArthur Island Sports Centre.
Goalie Reece Hawthorne flashed some sweet glove action to take the Flames’ game MVP. It was 2-0 Royals after two periods with the New West goalies both red-hot.
The Flames tied the Abbotsford Hawks 4-4, upended the Kamloops Steelheads 5-2 and doubled the Kamloops Rampage 4-2 to win their pool in the 12-team tourney.
Nick Mitchell, with two, game MVP Chase Batchelor and Jacob Brewer scored against the Hawks, whose netminders stole the show.
Mitchell took MVP with 1+2 as the Flames stopped the Steelheads, other goals coming from Batchelor, Jonas Ramsey, Erik Urquhart and Carter Morris. Brewer (MVP) and Mitchell each scored twice against the Rampage with Batchelor earning three helpers.
The Sub City Donair Devils went 2-1-1 to finish fifth in the Salmon Arm Silvertips Pee Wee Rec Tournament.
Game MVP Teigan Derkach netted the winner as the Devils dusted off Salmon Arm Askew’s Foods 5-4 in playoff action Sunday.
Sub City opened by crushing Salmon Arm Salmar Classic Titans 10-2 with Seb Wenger getting 4+2 and MVP Cameron Work bagging a deuce.
After losing 6-1 to Langley (Jordan Butler MVP), the Devils recovered for a 5-5 tie with the West Kelowna Warriors. Goalie Dalton Stenberg took MVP, while Wyatt Gatzke and Brayden Beacom each had three points. The Devils received several clutch face-off wins and goals from Finn O’Keefe.
The North Okanagan White Knights edged the Vernon Denny’s Ice Rockets 5-4 in a thrilling Atom league play Sunday at Enderby Arena.
Buoyed by the return of goalie Teja Sheldrake from injury, the Ice Rockets raised their team play to a new level. The White Knights, however opened with a pair of breakaway goals by Fraser O’Brien.
Vernon turned the tide in the second. Blueliner and game MVP Liam Reid airmailed the puck over the crowd to Chris Reinhardt on the left wing. Reinhardt wired a wicked wrister high, glove side,.
Minutes later, after a strong backcheck, the trio of Zac Funk, Maddex Minard and Reilly Teager went on the counter attack. Minard cycled the puck to Funk in the right corner. Going strong to the net, Teager took Funk’s pass, got off a shot and banged the rebound home. Late in the frame, Reid took off from his own line, cut in off the left wing and deftly split the dee and buried a rocket .
After the White Knights equalized early in the third, Reid made another of his heads-up headman passes to Funk, who dangled through the defence and snapped it upstairs for the go-ahead snipe. The Knights’ Grayson Williamson levelled the score before Ayden Hnatiw roofed the winner.
