The Williams Lake Midget Timberwolves had an up and down weekend but still managed to pull out a third place finish in their home tournament.
The team played Friday afternoon against Smithers in the opening game and came out flying jumping to an early 2-1 lead but then seemed to run out of gas while Smithers started to take over the game.
Williams Lake couldn’t muster much in the way of offence after the first period and made several defensive gaffs that ended up in the back of their net.
The final score was 7-3 for Smithers.
Corey Loring, Braden Boyd and Jacob Benedet tallied for the Timberwolves.
In their second game Williams Lake faced a very strong Terrace team and had a terrific showing dominating the game and winding up with a 4-1 victory.
Dylan Derose was in net for the win and played a very strong game.
Mitch Labossierre had two goals for Williams Lake and William Paynton and Loring also scored. Dayton Long also had two assists for the Wolves.
In their third game Williams Lake faced Salmon Arm and skated to a solid 5-2 victory. The T-wolves scored early and played solidly defensively shutting down scoring opportunities to a minimum.
Paynton scored a pair for the Wolves while Cody Swan, Jimmy Belleau and Lane Wycotte added singles. Logan Clarke also added a pair of assists for the Wolves.
The Wolves needed a big win in their fourth game to advance to the semifinals and they came through in spades pounding Kamloops 11-2.
Cody Swan (2G, 3A), Paynton (3G, 2A) both had five point games and Lane Wycotte (3G, 1A) had a four-point game with the other goals being scored by Owen Powers with two and Boyd with one.
The win advanced the T-wolves to the semifinal where they once again faced Smithers.
An injury-riddled Timberwolves team fell behind 3-0 early in the first before closing the game to 3-2 late in the second.
In the third, undisciplined play led to several penalties which Smithers capitalized on with goals and eventually pulled away a 7-3 win. Boyd, Wycotte and Paynton scored for the Wolves in the loss.
Williams Lake assistant coach Frankie Robbins said injuries played a key role in the loss.
“We just ran out of players,” Robbins said. “We had to move two of our forwards back to defence.”
Prince George met Smithers in the final game and PG came away with a 5-3 win to take the tourney title.
The Wolves now have a weekend off before resuming league play in Quesnel an Dec. 19.
