The Oceanside Minor Hockey rec bantams had a solid showing in last week’s 10-team Winter Classic tournament at Oceanside Place, grabbing the silver medals.
And the bronze. And fourth place.
Only Cowichan Valley prevented a medal sweep by the hosts, earning a spot in the gold-medal final and breaking open a one-goal game with four unanswered scores in the third period for a 9-4 win over the Oceanside Hurricanes Thursday night.
That followed a bronze-medal final that saw the Oceanside Steelers top the Oceanside Blues 6-3 in an intra-club duel.
The Hurricanes matched the Steelers with a 3-1 record in Pool A qualifying, and took the top spot by virtue of a 4-3 win over the Steelers in the teams’ head-to-head meeting.
The Blues also went 3-1 in Pool B, falling only to Cowichan.
The Hurricanes actually got on the board first in the gold-medal final, on a quick score by Martin Rupprecht assisted by Dawson Meldrum.
But the visitors scored their goals in bunches, getting two quick goals late in the period to go up 2-1 and, after the Hurricanes tied it on Matthew Green’s unassisted tally a minute into the second, scoring three straight goals to take a 5-2 lead into the mid-game ice-cleaning break.
But the Hurricanes were not finished. The hosts regained the momentum and used the power play to their advantage in the last half of the second period, riding consecutive goals by Rupprecht and Rowan Hannay to close to 5-4 entering the third period.
But Cowichan embarked on another flurry, and the Hurricanes had no answer.
Kaeden Letcher and Markus Wheatley contributed assists in the loss.
In the bronze-medal game, Ethan Raduy scored four goals and Austin Walper and Matthew O’Reilly had one each as the Steelers extended a 4-3 lead after two periods.
Joshua Dykstra and O’Reilly each collected assists in the win and Seth Plamondon earned the win in goal.
The Blues, using borrowed peewee goalie Riley Hammill in net, got scores from Garret Eppler, Will Fox and Nolan Lewis.
Oceanside Minor Hockey Bantam Winter Classic
Dec. 27-29
At Oceanside Place
Round-robin
Oceanside Hurricanes 6, Saanich 2
Oceanside Steelers 10, Campbell River 2
Oceanside Blues 5, Victoria 2
Cowichan 7, Nanaimo 1
Oceanside Blues 7, Juan de Fuca 2
Oceanside Steelers 6, North Delta 3
Oceanside Hurricanes 6, Campbell River 2
Cowichan 13, Victoria 0
North Delta 5, Saanich 1
Juan de Fuca 3, Nanaimo 2
Oceanside Hurricanes 4, Steelers 3
Campbell River 2, North Delta 2
Cowichan 9, Oceanside Blues 7
Victoria 6, Juan de Fuca 5
Oceanside Steelers 4, Saanich 1
North Delta 5, Hurricanes 1
Blues 6, Nanaimo 4
Saanich 2, Campbell River 1
Cowichan 11, Juan de Fuca 1
Nanaimo 10, Victoria 4
Bronze final
Steelers 6, Blues 3
Steelers goals: Ethan Raduy 4, Austin Walper, Matthew O’Reilly. Assists: Joshua Dykstra, O’Reilly. Goaltender: Seth Pamondon. Blues goals: Garret Eppler, Will Fox, Nolan Lewis. Goaltender: Riley Hammill
Gold final
Cowichan 9, Hurricanes 4
Hurricanes goals: Martin Rupperecht 2, Kaeden Letcher, Rowan Hannay. Assists: Dawson Meldrum, Letcher, Markus Wheatley. Goaltender: Alexander Reid.
