The Nakusp Peewee Falcons made another valiant attempt at a win on Nov. 20.
Going up against the Castlegar Sentinels, it was clear both teams had some very strong players, as neither team seemed to spend much time on either side of the ice.
Defense for the Falcons and Sentinels proved to be very strong, as it was over ten minutes into the first period before the first goal was scored by Riley Akselson of the Sentinels. Five minutes later, another Sentinels goal was scored, this time by Ryan Hartlen, assisted by Kalen Moore and Lyla Moorey.
The Falcons had gained some confidence by the second period. They dominated the game, with Michael Driedger, and Lucas Robins scoring the only two goals of the period.
Third period was very much like the first. Again, it was almost halfway through the period before the Sentinels scored the tie breaking goal, and once they started, they could not be stopped. They scored another two times by the end of the period, though Falcons hopes were raised after Jordis Smith scored one final goal for the team.
In an attempt to get at least one more goal in the last minute of the game, Falcons coaches decided to take goalie Jake Bjarnson out to put another player on the ice.
In the end though, the Sentinels won 5-3.
Though the team lost, head coach Mike Smith wasn’t disheartened.
“It wasn’t our best game, but it was fun,” he said. “It was very close.”
Smith praised Bjarnason for his hard work on the ice.
“He wants to be top dog goalie right off the bat, but it takes time,” he said. “All our goalies had days where they let ones in from the other end, and that’s a learning curve, but he’ll learn as he goes if he sticks with it.”
The Peewee Falcons have a tournament this weekend in Castlegar, and Smith looks forward to going up against other teams in the area, and sees the tournament as an opportunity to have fun and improve.
“We’re a lot younger that a lot of the teams we’ve played, and we lost a couple of our older, stronger kids, but new kids are stepping up, and the young kids are learning, and when they get up to their own age group they’re going to be rock solid.”
