Morning Star Staff
Another playoff challenge, another clutch victory for the Nedco Dudes.
A week after claiming the Okanagan North Midget Super Hockey League title in Vernon, the Dudes took the Valley banner by bouncing the Westside Hitmen 10-2 Sunday in Penticton.
Captain Dallas Zupp supplied four goals, while Brenden Zupp and Taylor Hamilton-Gee each pocketed deuces and singles went to Marcus Finn and Kolten Kirschner (his second straight Okanagan title).
Said Nedco head coach Darren Zupp: “As coaches (Daryl Brodoway and Brent Magnus) we are very proud of the boys for the way they battled all year. The support we received from our team parents/grandparents was awesome and the boys saluted them after the final game. Everyone came together and it was a great team effort.”
After opening with a 9-3 win over the Clearwater Warriors featuring four goals by Dallas Zupp and a pair each by Finn and Brenden Zupp, the Dudes lost 5-2 to the Hitmen before icing Penticton 3-0.
The Dudes received a huge emotional boost versus Penticton when first-year forward Connor Loewen rifled a shot from the left slot putting the Dudes up 2-0. Two minutes later, d-man Daniel Desjarlais scored with a point blast for his first goal of the season. Corey Lehoux and Jared Larsen shared the shutout.
In Pee Wee play, the Butcher Boy Titans won three games before falling 4-3 in a semifinal shootout to the tournament host Winfield #2 Bruins.
Landen Harison, Tyson Sampert and captain Sean Howard, with the late equalizer, handled the Titans’ offence.
Butcher Boys opened by icing the Kelowna Stars 7-5 with game MVP Howard bagging a hat trick, Harison adding 1+3 and other snipes going to Chris Aldrich, Sampert and Miles Wohlford.
The Titans slammed Salmon Arm 8-1 and shut down Kamloops 7-0 in Saturday action.
Howard (4), MVP Aldrich, with 2 +1, Harison, with 1+2, and Anthony Kennedy scored against Salmon Arm. Nick Maglio and Caenan Wisse shared the shutout win, while MVP Harison provided 3+1, Sampert had two and Aldrich 1+2.
The Bannister GM Flames went 3-1 and finished fifth in the Blades of Steel Pee Wee Rec Tournament in Oliver-Osoyoos by edging the Penticton Firefighting Vees 4-3 Sunday.
Nick Mitchell (2), Aaron Jodoin and Jacob Brewer scored for the Flames, whose game MVP was d-man Reece Hawthorne.
In Saturday play, the Flames shaded the Kamloops Steelheads 4-3 and bowed 5-1 to the Langley Ice Hawks.
Mitchell pulled the hat trick for MVP versus Kamloops with Chase Batchelor bagging a single in front of a solid Erik Urquhart. Brewer scoredagainst Langley with hustling d-man Jonas Ramsey taking MVP.
The Stevenson Mechanical Blues fell 6-2 to the Steelheads in the battle for seventh place at the Blades of Steel.
Reid Lawrence opened the scoring for the Blues with his seventh consecutive goal of the tournament before Kamloops replied with four unanswered goals. Kael Black, one-timing a pass from Keenon Jeberg, got the Blues to within 4-2 before the Steelheads iced the game with breakaway goals two minutes apart.
D-man Halle Higgins-Wilson, who was a force all weekend, was game MVP.
In Saturday action, the Blues lost 4-2 to West Kelowna Warriors and tied the Vees 4-4.
Lawrence had all six Blues’ goals and took MVP against the Vees, while d-man Michael Pusey was game MVP versus the Warriors. Dylan Blazek and Sam Knox were both stellar in net all weekend.
The Vernon Novice Black Widows capped an excellent season by going undefeated at the Kelowna Lutz Tiered Tournament.
The Widows finished 3-0-1, defeating the Kelowna Flyers and Kelowna Huskies by identical 6-4 scores in their first two games.
The Widows then played a rough-and-tumble game against Kelowna’s top Novice squad, the Snipers, battling to a 4-4 draw. Vernon then iced the Kelowna Junior Chiefs 3-2.
“The kids have worked hard all season and played tough against the best from Kamloops, Kelowna and the Fraser Valley,” said head coach Tim Milne. “We preached the team concept starting in September and the kids really pulled together and played for each other on the final weekend.”
Austin Roest led the Widowsattack with great support from forwards Brydon Schmiegelt, Zac Milne, Zack Casagrande, Erik Pastro, Nolan Thomas, Brydon Pilon, Brock Holliday and Deagan McMillan. Vernon’s d-corps of John Spraggs, JJ Milne, Riley Cormier and Tyler Burke was rock-solid in Kelowna and Logan Killingbeck provided stellar goaltending.
In addition to Milne, Canadian Olympic gold and silver snowboardcross coach at the 2010 Games, the Widows were led by former Ottawa GeeGee rearguard Mike Casagrande and 17-year pro Stacy Roest, now Director of Player Development for Tampa Bay Lightning.
