They play the Surrey Falcons this morning and then tour the gorgeous Richmond Olympic Oval after lunch.
Depending on who beat who in games played Tuesday afternoon and night, the Vernon Sladen Moore Lakers may not be happy tourists at the B.C. Pee Wee Female AAA Hockey Championships in Richmond.
The Lakers played their hearts out but lost 3-1 to the Richmond Ravens Tuesday morning, falling to 1-2 in the six-team provincial playdowns. Vernon stopped the Prince George Cougars 3-0 Sunday afternoon and bowed 4-1 to the North Shore Avalanche Monday morning.
“They’re having fun, but they’re dejected because we lost this morning,” said Laker head coach Arne Head, assisted by Keith Tucker, Jeff Southam and Mike McCaig. “We played our best and came up short. You hate to rely on other teams having to win so you have an outside chance at the final.”
Vernon met the Rossland-Trail Wildcats Tuesday night and tangle with the Vancouver Island Royals Thursday morning. The championship game goes Thursday night.
Vernon needed the Wildcats to upset Surrey early Tuesday afternoon, but Surrey scored a late goal in a 1-0 win.
Richmond scored two late goals in the first period and held off the Lakers, who outshot the Ravens 30-15. Amy Fox, from Jenna Fletcher, handled the Vernon offence.
“We totally outplayed them,” said Head. “We just had a 10-minute meltdown in the second half of the first period and that cost us.”
The Lakers gave up a breakaway goal 15 seconds in against North Shore and got in some penalty trouble later in the game.
“We had a crappy start and we didn’t give up,” said Head. “They’re very skilled and they outshot us by double.”
Cassidy Marshall converted from Fletcher and Andie Kaneda for the Sladen Moore goal late in the second period.
Samantha Head blocked 18 shots for the shutout win over Prince George.
Mairyn Tucker opened the scoring unassisted halfway through the first period, firing a hard shot that eluded the Cougars’ tender, and then set up Emily Clarke on a nice goal-mouth feed with Clarke going hard to the net. Makenna Hoffman drew the second assist.
The third goal was scored by Teira Joseph on a point shot with Clarke assisting and Tucker and Hoffman creating traffic in front.
Meanwhile, the host Salmon Arm Silvertips – with 10 Vernon products on their roster – opened the Midget Female Provincials with a 3-1 loss to Surrey Tuesday morning.
Hailey Silcocks of Vernon scored for the Tips, from Lisa Campeau.
Salmon Arm met Vancouver Island Tuesday night (they lost 2-1 to Kelowna in their opener) and face Kelowna and Richmond today. Richmond started off by ambushing Whitehorse 17-1.
