The No.1 Autobody PeeWee A Tyees participated in the Seafair Tournament in Richmond this past Thanksgiving weekend.
They had a great weekend full of team bonding and came back with some bronze hardware.
The first game took place Friday afternoon against Saanich. Centreman Ethan Vaton opened up the scoring for the Tyees near the half way mark of the game after he took a feed from Breydan Riecker and showed off some impressive dangles before burying the puck in the Saanich net.
Shortly after, defenseman Tyson Olsen took a hard shot from the point and Riecker, winger, dug for the rebound and poked the puck in, making the score 2-0.
In the third period, winger Carson Harris added to the score with assists from Ryan Deagle and Ty Easton. Saanich had no answer and the final tally was 3-0.
Olsen was named game MVP for his impressive hustle and both offensive and defensive contributions.
Game two took place Saturday morning against the North Shore Winter Club.
Vaton made a nice pass to Riecker who put the puck top shelf to open the scoring.
Unfortunately, the opposition put up two goals in the first, two more in the second and one in the third period as an answer before defenseman Wyatt Aarts took a hard shot from up high late in the third that was tipped in by Easton.
This was soon followed by a nice pass from Vaton to centreman Wyatt Murray and he buried the puck between the pipes.
The Tyees spent a considerable amount of time on the penalty kill in the second and third period and unfortunately the final score was 5-3 for the North Shore Winter Club.
Vaton was named game MVP for his excellent passing and dynamic skating.
Early Sunday morning, the Tyees faced Nanaimo in their final round robin game.
Riecker opened the scoring and this was immediately followed by another Tyees goal from winger Brendan Burnside, assisted by centreman Ryder Plecas.
The Campbell River squad was really clicking and passing the puck well and Riecker added the third and fourth goals for the Tyees, assisted by Vaton before Nanaimo would begin to put up a fight and make the score 4-1 at the beginning of the second period.
A pass from Riecker to Vaton who buried the puck added another to the Tyees total, but Nanaimo was not ready to quit, slowly building on their score until a nail biting third period found the two squads in a 5-5 deadlock.
The score ended in a tie, thanks in part to fast-skating and hard-working defensemen Wyatt Dumont and Ian Mills, who along with goalie Tanner Ferrill did everything they could to keep the puck out of the Tyees net.
Riecker was named MVP for his hattrick and offensive efforts.
Fortunately, the tie was enough to put the Tyees through to the semifinal game early Monday morning vs. the Comox Valley Chiefs.
Winger Tristan Granter showed off his impressive skating ability going end to end and nearly putting the puck between the pipes.
Unfortunately the Chiefs got on the scoreboard first and followed up with two more goals before the end of the first period.
Vaton had an answer in the second period with a pass from Riecker and Easton.
Late in the third, Riecker sent a no-looker pass to Vaton for his second goal of the game. Harris went for a skate and dangled some of the opposition, nearly adding to the Tyees score.
Ferrill worked hard between the pipes and came up with many nice saves, including a beauty glove save in the third.
Dumont worked hard to hold the line. Plecas was tenacious on the puck and showed amazing skill while winger Kye Benoche did a fantastic job of dumping the puck deep on the penalty kill.
Unfortunately, the Tier 1 Comox squad is a fast team with a nice fore-check that was too much for the Tyees on that day. 4-2 for the Chiefs was the final score and Ferrill was named MVP for his excellent goal tending efforts.
The result of the semi-final match-up found the Campbell River Tyees and Victoria Racquet Club taking the ice for the Bronze medal game.
The game did not start off as the Tyees had hoped and after a no score first period, they found themselves down 2-0 half way through the second until Granter sent a beautiful pass to spring Riecker on the breakaway where he deked to his backhand and put the puck between the posts.
A few minutes later, Riecker returned the favor with a pass behind the net to Granter who scored five-hole on the power play to even up the score.
Benoche made a nice block to stop a chance for VRC and his play was gritty along the boards.
The hard working Braydon Myles played great in his defensive end, while Aarts and Olsen used their good sticks to protect the puck from the opposition.
Near the end of the second period, the tough Dumont would take a hard hit into the boards and leave the ice, but he returned in the next period and put up an assist in a beautiful passing play with Mills and Easton, who scored the go-ahead goal.
Murray would fire pucks at the VRC net, nearly scoring while Deagle dived and blocked a number of shots to protect the defensive end in the dying minutes of the game.
More great Tyees passing took place from Vaton to Riecker and back to Vaton who would add the insurance goal and the final tally was 4-2 for the Tyees which got them the bronze medal.
