Josh Laird scored with four seconds left to send the Langley bantam C3 Eagles to a dramatic victory in the championship finals at a tournament in Penticton.
Laird’s goal — his third of the game — gave the Eagles a 4-3 victory over Langley C7 in an all-Langley championship final on Sunday.
On the winning goal, Brady Lumsden won a puck battle and got the puck to Nick Cormack, who then set up Laird for the winner.
The Eagles were a perfect 5-0 at the tournament, never trailing in any of the contests, and was the team’s third tournament victory off the season.
They were also awarded the Pacific Coast Amateur Hockey Association banner as the Fraser Valley West playoff champs for the bantam C division.
The team also finished the season with just five losses in 44 games (35-5-4).
Langley won the opener 9-3 over Penticton as player of the game Trevor Young had a hat trick. Joseph Deley had a strong game on the wing while d-man Eric Nordal used his quickness to shut down the Penticton forwards.
Cormack earned player of the game honours in game two, setting up three goals in a 7-0 win over the North Shore Winter Club. Greg Song and Carson Yee chipped in with a goal apiece.
The final round robin game was the toughest as the Eagles needed a pair of late goals to win 6-4 over Hope. Defenceman Owen Kredba was player of the game as he battled the strong Hope forwards in front of the net. Lex Rohweder opened the scoring and Matt Bardell-Polley returned from injury to set up one goal while Josh Moreau also found the score sheet with an assist. In the semifinals, goaltender Matthew Reeves was player of the game in the 6-1 win over Semiahmoo. Colton Kenney had two goals and an assist to lead the offence with Owen Kemp had a strong game on defence.
