The Vernon Authentic Plaque and Trophy Tropics secured the North Okanagan Midget Super Hockey League banner with an exciting 7-7 tie with the Talon Benefits Ajax Sunday night at Civic Arena.
Trailing 7-6 with three minutes left in the game, goaltender Luke Vandale made a scintillating glove save on what looked like a sure goal off the stick of Dallas Zupp.
The puck was headmanned quickly by Brock Wagner and Connor Smidt to a fast-skating Brandon Tarasenko who blasted a top-shelf maker for the equalizer.
The dramatics weren’t quite over yet as the Tropics were forced to kill a penalty with 90 seconds to play. The Tropics finished tied for first with the Nedco Titans, but took the banner with a head-to-head win in the only meeting between the teams.
Vandale also stopped Zupp on a penalty shot in the third period of the fast-paced contest that saw the lead change several times. Brett Vandale, Russell Hickman, Rowyn Lewis-Hatherley, Wagner, Adam Fenske and Russel Negraiff also scored for the Tropics.
The Tropics put themselves in a position to win the regular-season banner on Sunday by beating KT’s Pizza Thunder 7-3 on Saturday night.
Wagner led the Tropics with 2+3, while Hickman contributed 1+5. Fenske, Cameron Strike, Negraiff and Travis Webster added singles.
“Steve Cousins and myself had the privilege of coaching 16 of Vernon`s finest young adults,” said Tropics’ head coach Mike Wagner. “Hard work, sweat and smarts led us to a heart-stopping final game that render us the midget super league champions. All season long, we focused on playing smart hockey, keeping our emotions under control and working hard.”
Zupp finished with 2+3, while Kristian Currie added 2+1 and brick-wall d-man Sean Greene earned his first and second goals of the season two-and-a-half minutes apart.
Aaron Keryluke added a single. Captain Bradlee Jones had two assists, while the two sharpest dressed goalies in town – Clay Coles and Tyler Yawney – both faced more than their fair share of shots to keep them wide awake.
The Titans settled for a 3-3 tie with the North Okanagan Knights Sunday morning at Nor-Val Sports Centre.
Austin Bosquet, Garrett Dansereau and Mark Francis scored for the Titans, who rang seven shots off posts and crossbars while carrying most of the play.
Darryl Fiddler, Logan Siddall, on a sweet penalty shot, and James Krahn replied for the fifth-place Knights.
The Titans got two goals apiece from Yanik Fillion-Murphy and Kolton Kirschner as they iced the Salmon Arm Lakeside Printing Sting 5-3 Friday at Priest Valley Arena.
Dansereau added a single, while Chris Gallant pocketed a pair of helpers.
The Corbett Office Plus Cowboys finished 2-2 by stopping host 100 Mile House Home Hardware 6-4 in Sunday’s penalty-filled C final of a Midget rec tournament.
Justin Ramsey (3), Mitchell Lukacs, Dustin Folliott and Ben James handled the Cowboys’ offence. Game MVP Sam Whitelaw earned three assists and was tireless both ways, while Jeremy Clark had a pair. D-man Nat Wilson policed the back end and blocked numerous shots on a four-minute 5-on-3 penalty kill.
The Cowboys opened with a 6-5 loss to the 100 Mile House Pharmasave with Ramsey getting MVP with two goals. Singles went to Nik Wasylyk, James and Folliott. Wilson had two helpers.
Wasylyk added a pair of insurance goals to take MVP as the Cowboys bounced the Aldergrove Bruins 4-1. Scott Latwat and Lukacs also scored with Austin Goss and Yager Krenz sharing the win.
The Corbett gang then bowed 5-0 to Langley to finish preliminary play. Lukacs had some scoring chances on forward and defence to take MVP.
The Lumby Stars secured the Bantam Super League banner with a 6-1 win over the Winfield Bruins Sunday at Pat Duke Memorial Arena.
Jayden Pedersen with the hat trick, Kevin Fuller with a pair, and Logan Meier led the Irly Bird Building Supplies sponsored Stars.
In other Bantam action, the Interior Savings Flyers grounded the Scotiabank Velocity 6-5 Sunday at Civic Arena.
Smooth-skating Eamon Miller sparked the Flyers with two goals. Dan Desjarlais opened the scoring, in a game that the the Flyers never trailed, on a deflection that handcuffed Sylvain Lucet. Goaltenders Corey Lehoux and Lucet played well for their respective teams. Other Flyers goals came from Dylan Oberle, Tyler McMillan and Landon Munk.
Replying for the Velocity were Marshall Box (2+1), Jeff Hiscoe, Seth Blundell and Marcus Finn.
Donte Nowell scored four times as the Five Star Awards Chiefs ambushed the Salmon Arm SilverBacks 8-2 in Bantam play at the Shaw Centre.
Joseph Tronson (2), Brandon deJong and Brennan Seltzer also scored for the Chiefs, whose forward lines with Lucas Williams, Craig Lawrence, Alex Strutt, Tronson and deJong kept pressuring the Silverblades. Trey Spanier took the win, while Cole Adams, Daniel DeShane, Carl Main and Hitch were stellar on defence.
The Salmar Classics of Salmon Arm clipped the Stevenson Mechanical Blues 2-1 Sunday at Civic Arena to claim the Pee Wee Super League title.
Jackson Mount and Nathan Chorlton scored for Salmar (14-2-2), while Samantha Head replied for the Blues, who needed a win for the banner and ended up fourth at 12-4-2. The Blues settled for a 3-3 tie with the host Salmon Arm Askew’s Foods Warriors Saturday, getting goals from Nick Mitchell, Adam Raber and Braydie Allan.
Eric Bruce scored the tying goal on a penalty shot with 34 seconds left for the 7-9-2 Warriors.
The Vernon Seed Orchard Female Sharks ended their Pee Wee super league season by stopping the Lumby Stars 5-3 and losing 1-0 to the Winfield Bruins.
Winfield net detective Zakary McLachlan was the show as he blocked more than 40 Shark shots for the shutout.
Molly Crandlemire and Brittany Jackson were strong on offence for the Sharks, while Bailey Berndt was solid in net.
On Sunday, two Sharks celebrated their first career goals in the victory over Lumby. Chelsea McCaig scored her first ever off a rebound of a Brooke Berube shot and Erin Poland, in her first year of hockey, fired a one timer after a nice pass from McCaig.
Hannah Scherck pulled the hat trick for the Sharks, while Taylor Cousins and Lexes Adams were stellar up front but were stymied by Stars’ goalie Cameron Pryor. Tyler Yule, Shale Miller and Jarrett Miller replied for the Stars.
The Stars are sponsored by Aldon Waste Systems and Terry’s Automotive)
The Lumby Atom Stars (sponsored by Kineshanko Logging Ltd. and Armstrong Co-Op) were presented with the OMAHA Atom Super League regular-season banner Saturday before their 6-4 loss to Salmon Arm #2.
Micheal Preston was between the pipes for the Stars and made several spectacular saves to keep his team tied late in the third period. The Stars got goals from Noah Clarke, Nic Teale, Ryan Desilets and Quin Williamson.
Rounding out the offensive lines with many scoring chances were Wyatt Whitcomb, Tage Kineshanko, Drew Mackenzie and Liam McLeod.
The Novice Lumby Rock Stars (sponsored by Wolverine Turf and Green Velvet Lawn Care) had a great weekend with two home games. Russell Nielsen put in a strong effort, while Parker Siegmueller was a great leader on the bench. Hayden Nerbus and Ryder Quibel had amazing games.
