Morning Star Staff
Goalie Bryce Dyck was sensational and captain Justin Mitchell pulled the hat trick as Talon Benefit Hawks iced Vernon Seed Orchard Ducks 6-4 in Sunday’s final of the 10-team Vernon Midget Winter Midget Rec Hockey Classic.
Adam Fenske supplied 1+4, Sean Conners added 1+2 and Marcus Kehler also scored for the Hawks, who held period leads of 3-1 and 5-3. Mitchell’s third goal came with 13 seconds to play and the Ducks’ net empty.
Dyck, who earned game MVP, was just as sharp earlier Sunday when the Hawks outlasted the Vernon Dudes 8-6 in the semis.
Liam MacPhee (3) and Chris Gallant (1+3) replied for the Ducks, who ambushed Kamloops Midget Six 10-3 in the other semi.
“We’re so proud of how everyone played,” said Hawks’ head coach Hedley Larsen, assisted by Fred Dyck, Clint Hiscoe and Bob Gilowski. “It made it fun to coach all the boys and watch their hard work pay off. Way to go Hawks.”
Landon Munk, Fenske and Mitchell each pocketed 2+1 in the Hawks’ comeback win over the Dudes. D-man Braden Gilowski and Conners added singles.
Brenden Zupp, with the hat trick, Kristian Currie, with a deuce, and Garrett Dansereau countered for the Dudes, who led 5-2 at the ice clean.
In their semi, the Ducks got 2+1 from Gallant and d-man Nikolai Negraiff and 1+3 from blueliner Sean Greene. Brett Shaigec counted 1+2, while other goals came from Steven Goebel, Solomon Ivanoff, Daniel Deshane and MacPhee.
KT’s Pizza Blues parlayed two dramatic goals from Rowyn Lewis-Hatherley into a 4-3 C final overtime victory over the Westside Royals.
Lewis-Hatherley levelled the score with one second left in regulation and then buried the winner at 4:40 of OT, with Kyle Clark drawing the assist.
Austin Bosquet and Nik Wasylyk also scored, while Travis Webster had two helpers in support of Austin Goss.
In Okanagan North Bantam Super League play, the Scotiabank Lightning stretched their win streak to six with a 9-2 slamming of the Winfield Bruins Sunday in Lake Country.
Sam Frisby scored first while shorthanded, taking the puck end to end and whipping in a wrist shot. The next three goals were all inked by Landon Currie after receiving multiple right-on-the-tape lead passes by defenceman Leland Riguedell.
Winfield struck for a pair before Cam MacKenzie and Riguedell netted breakaway snipes and Rowan Wood connected on a sweet one-timer. Sean Reid finished the 10-3-1 Bolts’ offence.
Coyotes brush off Spartans
In other Bantam action Sunday, the DCT Chambers Coyotes doubled the Corbett Office Spartans 4-2 at Civic Arena.
Travis Aeichele and Jacob Soucy of DCT both netted their first goals of the season with some terrific teamwork and passing.
Other DCT goals went to Dex Elders and Jakob Marshall. Great hustle came from Adam Sacht, while Parker Wadsworth turned in some fabulous passing. Jacob Holland and Noah Foufoulas shared the 13-2 Coyotes’ net.
Nick Mann went top shelf in the first period and Aaron Botterill flipped home a rebound for the Spartans. Billy Cawthorn stopped a barrage of shots to keep the game close and Nikala Debalinhard fearlessly blocked a dozen shots and won the Spartans’ MVP.
In Okanagan North Pee Wee Super League play, Josh Litven scored with 2:43 remaining as the Lumby Stars tied the Bannister GM Flames 2-2 Sunday at Priest Valley Arena.
Quin Williamson also tallied for the Stars, while Brooke Berube and Jacob Brewer scored for the Flames. It was a classic goaltending duel between the Stars’ Cameron Pryor and the Flames’ Erik Urquhart. The Stars, sponsored by Terry’s Automotive and Kineshanko Logging Ltd., chose Trayton Phillips, Vanessa Yaremcio and Pryor as their three stars.
The Flames rallied to tie the host Salmon Arm Tiger Sharks 4-4 Saturday at the Shaw Centre. Jonas Ramsey and Nick Mitchell each bagged two goals for the 8-5-2 Flames in support of Urquhart. The last-place Sharks gained their first point of the year.
Brayden Beacom bagged 3+3 as the visiting Sub City Donair Devils grounded the Sicamous Predators 9-1 Sunday morning.
Finn O’Keefe also scored three times. Seb Wenger, Jadon Foster and Jordan Butler had singles.
Reid Lawrence snapped a 2-2 tie at 5:28 of the third period, and Braydie Allan-Webber scored into an empty net as the Vernon Stevenson Mechanical Blues iced the Trail Hawks 4-2 for 11th place at the Penticton Power House Pee Wee Winter Classic Sunday.
The Blues spotted Trail a 2-0 first period lead before Lawrence and Allan-Webber responded in the second, and goalie Sam Knox shut out the Hawks over the second half. Forward Kim Whitelaw had a pair of assists for the Blues, who got weekend MVP showings from goalie Dylan Blazek, Lawrence, Halle Higgins-Wilson and Keenon Jeberg.
Stars shade Ice Rockets
Firewagon hockey was in full effect as the Okanagan North Atom Super League-leading Lumby Stars shaded Denny’s Ice Rockets 9-8 Saturday at Pat Duke Memorial Arena.
Kaleb Pachal and Conner Seehaver staked Lumby to an early 2-0 lead. Rocket Liam Remple then wired a stretch pass to left winger Maddex Minard, who in full flight, fired Vernon’s first to the far side. Linden Catt replied for Lumby.
A minute later, Bradley Halvorson pulled Vernon closer, speeding in off the right wing and finding the five-hole.
The back and forth action continued with Lumby’s Noah Clarke depositing a rebound, before Rockets’ Shawn Huizinga and Bradley Halvorson countered with some one-touch passing through the neutral zone to set up Remple for a long wrister.
In the second, Conner Seehaver chipped in the lone goal to extend Lumby’s advantage to 5-3. Early in the final frame, Ice Rocket Zac Funk outraced the Stars’ defenders to a dump in and pumped one into the Lumby net.
The 12-0-2 Stars then exploded for three, with Liam MacLeod, Tye Krause and Seehaver (hat trick) doing the damage.
Down 8-4 late, the Ice Rockets dug deep and charged back. First, Shaun Huizinga banged in his own rebound; next, Chris Reinhardt teed up his big brother Ben for a blast in the slot, and an airborne Liam Reid popped in the loose puck; and then Sapien Joe, with a burst of speed, broke away and sniped one over the goalie’s blocker to draw Vernon within one.
Lumby’s Nicholas Teale stemmed the tide with an insurance goal, but with seconds to go, Reid scored on a coast-to-coast rush to make things interesting.
On Sunday at Hucul Pond in Salmon Arm, the Ice Rockets and host Save-On Foods Saints skated to a 3-3 tie.
Chris Reinhardt gained control with some gutsy corner work and centered to his brother Ben for the first Rocket goal.
Midway through the third, Rocket rearguard Quinn Soon sprung Halvorson on a breakaway. Halvorson’s shot was stopped, but he retrieved the puck in Gretzky’s office and feathered a perfect pass to Maddex Minard for a five-hole snipe.
Halvorson’s shot was stopped, but he retrieved the puck in Gretzky’s office and feathered a perfect pass to Maddex Minard for a five-hole snipe.
The Saints’ Trent Poroznuk evened the score on a penalty shot. Then, with less than two minutes to go, Quinn Soon stood up the Salmon Arm attack at the Rocket line, and sent Joe the other way.
Joe carried the puck into the Saints’ zone and slid it over to Remple, who cruised in and blazed a shot past the goalie’s glove. With less than a minute left, Poroznuk went end to end for the equalizer as the Saints went to 2-10-2.
Denny’s dynamic net duo of Teja Sheldrake and Eric Foufoulas combined for 23 saves, many of the highlight-reel variety. The Rockets are 5-7-2.
The M&K Ready-Mix Demons are red-hot heading into the final stretch of regular season Atom Super League play.
The Ice Demons (7-7) iced the Saints 5-2 at the Shaw Centre before edging the Vernon Mighty Ducks 5-4 at PV Arena
Shaelyn Cecchini opened the M&K scoring at 3:25 of the first on a nice cross-ice pass from Jordyn Morris.
Nick Tilby and Christopher Bond combined to feed Kevin Morgan, while Morgan picked up another in the second on a tip from Ryan Vandesande. Bond and Morgan each had snipes in the third.
The Demons staged a great comeback in their Sunday afternoon tilt. The 4-8-2 Ducks jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, but Cecchini notched one back in the dying seconds of the first period.
The Demons kept the pace going into the second, with Vandesande scoring on a point shot. Bond (2+1) pocketed the next two to draw the Demons even, setting the stage for the winner by Brady Horton on a rebound from a Cecchini shot.
Brandon Dyck pocketed five goals as the Lakeside Accuprint Thunder rocked the host Sicamous Predators 15-4 Sunday. The Thunder are 10-4-1, the Preds 3-10-1.
