As some begin to mourn the end of summer, others look forward to the beginning of another exciting hockey season.
The team members of the REHN Enterprises Atom A Tyees can be included in the latter group and the season has indeed gotten off to an exciting start. The Tyees played three exhibition games at home this past weekend, taking on Comox Valley, Juan de Fuca and Powell River.
On Friday night, the Tyees came out strong against the Comox Valley Chiefs in the first half of the game. Centerman Ethan Vaton opened up the scoring half way through the first period, after defenseman Ryan Deagle sent him a pass and he skated in and deked out the Chiefs defense before firing the puck in the net.
Defenseman Gareth MacDonald demonstrated great hustle in his back-check and worked with the other defensemen and the incredibly focused goalie, Emile Abele to prevent the Chiefs from scoring in the first. Despite impressive passing by the Tyees, the score would remain 1-0 at the end of the first period.
The next goal came from winger Breydan Riecker who skated the puck up the ice and tucked it in the net with a beauty wrap-around goal. Unfortunately, the Chiefs managed to answer back a few minutes later, making the score 2-1 Tyees. That is when centerman Brady Estabrook went for a skate and took a shot. Winger Owen Lagos took advantage of the rebound, making the score 3-1.
However, the Chiefs would put in two more before the period was through, and the score was at a 3-3 draw after the second period.
The Tyees were in tough in the third period with three goals being scored by the Chiefs in a matter of a minute and a half near the half-period mark. Deagle would respond with a shot that went post and in near the end of the frame, but it wouldn’t be enough. The final score was 6-4 Comox. Defenseman Dayton Arneson would earn the hard hat award for his gritty play.
On Saturday morning, the Tyees were fresh-faced and raring to go against the Juan de Fuca Grizzlies.
Goalie Abele was on his game early and so was the Tyees’ offence. Estabrook opened the scoring early on in the first frame. The Grizzlies answered only moments afterwards, but Lagos put the Tyees ahead with a nice top shelf goal near the end of the first period.
Riecker quickly followed Lagos with a goal assisted by MacDonald and winger Carson Harris also put one in, assisted by solid defenseman Wyatt Dumont before the end of the frame. JDF answered back with one more, making it 4-2 Tyees after the first.
The second period was quieter for the Tyees’ offense, but Estabrook tipped in a shot from defenseman Ian Mills near the end of the period.
However, the Grizzlies mounted an attempted comeback, scoring two quick ones minutes before the second period came to an end, making the score 5-4 Tyees after two periods.
Abele continued to make amazing saves, holding off the Grizzlies in the third. Estabrook took a feed from Harris and scored his hat trick goal in the empty net, putting the nail in the coffin for the Grizzlies. The final score was 6-4 Tyees.
Estabrook would earn the hardhat for his fantastic offensive and defensive efforts.
The Tyees were equally full of energy on Sunday morning when they faced the Powell River Kings.
The Tyees again were first to score with Vaton going for a skate and making a beautiful pass to Riecker for the goal. The score would remain 1-0 after the first.
Riecker would score the second goal, again assisted by Vaton in the middle of the second frame. Mills showed some great hustle, holding off the Kings offense. The score was 4-0 after two periods.
The Tyees offense opened the third period with a pass from Riecker to winger Koehn Obuck, who shot and Vaton capitalized on the rebound. The Tyees would skate to a 7-3 victory.
The hard hat would be awarded to Riecker for his offense.
