The Nedco Titans grabbed an early 4-0 lead and hung on to ground the KT’s Thunder 5-2 in the North Okanagan Midget Super Hockey League playoff final Monday night at Wesbild Centre.
Rookies Austin Bosquet, Brett Shaigec and Josh Lerbeck each supplied 1+1 for the Titans, who got stellar goaltending from Rodger Sewell. Graduating centre Yanik Fillion-Murphy supplied 1+2, while third-year d-man Gavin Banning also scored.
Brendan Squair and Marcus Kehler replied for the Thunder, who topped the preliminary round at 3-0, including a 5-3 win over the Titans.
Titan head coach Kevin Murphy was impressed with the way the entire team bought into the game-plan.
“We knew that the Thunder had been playing great hockey throughout the playoffs and figured that the only way to stop them was to come at them hard right from the get go,” he said.
“Because their players move the puck so quickly, we had to take away their time and space, particularly in the neutral zone. If our players had sat back, we would have been on our heels all night.”
The Titans advance to the Okanagan playdowns Friday night in Penticton, along with the host team, West Kelowna and Merritt.
Nedco edged the Talon Benefits Ajax 2-1, while the Thunder rolled over the regular-season champion Vernon Authentic Plaque & Trophy Tropics 6-2 in semifinal Sunday games at Civic Arena.
Fillion-Murphy and Banning scored for the Titans, who got an all-planet glove save by Sewell off Kristian Currie, from gimme range, late in the game. Dallas Zupp responded for the Ajax in the third period. It was 2-0 Titans after one period.
Murphy credited d-men Banning, Shaigec, Quin Finnocchio and Homenik for keeping the speedy Ajax forwards to the outside, and Sewell for coming up with the big save when needed.
The rest of the Titan roster was: Garrett Dansereau, Chad Woodhead, Mark Francis, Chris Gallant, Kolton Kirschner and Max Mitchell.
In their semifinal loss to the Thunder, captain Russell Hickman, from Travis Webster and Brock Wagner, got the Tropics on the board in the second frame while Webster, from Wagner, closed out the team’s scoring in the third.
The Tropics qualified for the semis by beating the Lumby Stars 8-3 at the Civic Saturday night. Wagner turned the hat trick while Hickman, Rowyn Lewis-Hatherly, Webster, Connor Smidt and Mitchell Cousins also scored for the Tropics. Luke Vandale backstopped the team to victory.
After dropping their opening three round-robin games, the Corbett Office Plus Cowboys rallied to earn silver in the B final, falling 4-2 to the Salmon Arm Blackburn Excavating Silvertips Monday in Winfield.
Jeremy Clark, from Nik Wasylyk, and Mitch Lukacs, from Cam Sawdon, handled the Vernon attack. Yager Krenz and Austin Goss were solid in net and kept the Cowboys in striking range.
Said coach Dan Wilson: “We had some peaks and valleys this year and I am proud to say that the Cowboys pulled together like a family.”
Sawdon earned his first career hat trick as the Cowboys opened weekend play with a 10-3 win over the host Winfield #1 Saturday.
Lukacs (2+3), Justin Ramsey (2), Dustin Folliott (1+3), Scott Latwat and Brett Mitchell chipped in on offence for the Corbett crew, who welcomed back Sam Whitelaw from an elbow injury. Krenz and Goss were stellar in sharing the victory.
In the semifinals Sunday at Civic Arena, big d-man Nathan Meyer fired the overtime winner as the Cowboys shaded Winfield #2 6-5. Ramsey (1+2), Clark (1+2), Lukacs, Mitchell and Folliott scored in regulation, with assists going to Nat Wilson and Adam Michelin.
Meanwhile, in Bantam Tier 1 exhibition action, the Sun Valley Source For Sports Renegades stuffed the host Salmon Arm SilverBacks 5-3 Sunday.
Carson Richards opened the scoring 5:18 into the first period on a nifty pass from Blaine Caton. Jorden Dewing fired one past the Salmon Arm goaltender on a great pass from Jeff Bochon to make it 2-0 early in the second.
Salmon Arm cut the lead in half later in the second period, but Caton, set up by Richards and Bochon, scored 45 seconds into the third period to restore the two-goal lead.
The Silverbacks counted two quick goals to tie the game 3-3 with six minutes to play. Singles by the Renegades’ Jagger Williamson, unassisted, and Dewing, with an empty-netter, secured the win.
Louis Springer and Bryce Dyck shared goaltending duties.
