At the end of the hard-fought Captain Cook Tournament in West Shore last weekend, the Cowichan Thunder emerged atop a tight peewee C field.
The Thunder edged the Campbell River Ravens 6-5 last Sunday morning to take the gold medal for their division.
“The players worked super hard all weekend and really came together as a team to pull off an amazing gold medal victory,” said Lucas Rankin, who coaches the team along with assistants Mark James and Kevin Sinclair. “All the games were very close and competition was very evenly matched.”
The gold-medal game was as close as any other match on the weekend. Cowichan opened the scoring on a goal by Dean Clark set up by Ashton Rota. Benson Sinclair made it 2-0 on assists by Ethan Andersen and Jake Norman, then Campbell River got on the scoreboard. Sinclair potted his second of the period to restore the two-goal lead, but the Ravens scored again to make it 3-2 for Cowichan at the end of the first period.
Gabe Wiebe got Cowichan going again with the first goal of the second period, but Campbell River scored the next two to even things at 4-4 before the middle fame was over. Rota and Rees Aebischer had Cowichan’s fifth and sixth goals. The Ravens made things interesting again with one more marker, but the Thunder held on to claim gold. Sinclair was named game MVP and Dylan Agostini-Gill got the Digger award.
The Thunder started the tournament on Friday with a 2-2 tie against host Juan de Fuca. Rota scored the lone goal of the first period before JDF took over with two in the second. Digger Luca Iorio set up Aebischer for the tying goal with just 26 seconds left to play. Goalie Jayden Strom was named game MVP.
Cowichan got by Nanaimo 3-2 for their only win of the round robin. Agostini-Gill opened the scoring just five seconds into the first period, then set up Jake Norman’s second-period goal to make it 2-1 for the Thunder. Nanaimo drew even again, but Linden Powers notched the eventual game-winner on a feed from Nishan Mahal before the teams battled through a scoreless third. Norman was named MVP and Rota claimed Digger honours.
The Thunder wrapped up round-robin play by tying Campbell River 3-3 in what turned out to be a preview of the gold-medal game. Rota and Powers staked Cowichan to a 2-0 lead in the first, and Austin James made it 3-0 in the second on an assist by Andersen. Campbell River came back with three goals in the third, including two in the last minute to draw even. Powers was named MVP and Aebischer received the Digger award.
Every player on the roster contributed to the Thunder’s success at the Captain Cook Tournament, whether they ended up on the scoresheet or not.
“Our goalie, Jayden Strom, played amazing all weekend and kept us in some very tight games with some amazing goaltending,” Rankin pointed out. “In addition to our point-getters, Diggers and MVPs, the team would not have had the success without the amazing defence, loose-ball digging, transition speed and hard work contributed by Ethan Clarahan, Vaughn Purinton, Matty McCormick, Loch Kapuscinski and Rylan Generous. The coaches were incredibly proud of the players for working so hard as a team and coming together to come away with the gold.”
