While their skate blades may have been dull, the Atom Development Timberwolves stayed sharp at the Salmon Arm Atom Development Tournament on the weekend.
Facing off against North Okanagan in the tournament championship, head coach Graham Fulton said misfortune struck.
“Going into the final our players went and got their skates sharpened at the pro shop at the rink, but the skates all got sharpened wrong and ruined their edges,” he said. “The five that got their skates done noticed during warmup and we ran them back to the pro shop but [they] couldn’t get the machine running so we had to run those five pairs of skates down to Sport Chek and, it’s unfortunate, but those kids missed half the game so we played with a short bench.
“It was a bit disappointing we didn’t get to put our best team out there in the final.”
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Despite the mishap in the final, Fulton said he was proud of his team’s effort at the 10-team tournament.
The T-wolves defeated Kelowna 4-3, hammered Penticton 10-3, then fell 8-2 to North Okangan, putting them into the semifinal versus the host, Salmon Arm.
“We were down 5-2 with about seven minutes left and scored three to tie it and then scored about 17 seconds into overtime to win,” Fulton said. “The kids were so excited — throwing their gloves in the air and jumping over the boards.”
In the final, Fulton said the team put in 110 per cent effort.
“They all dug in when we got our full team back and put out a good effort,” he said. “I’m really proud of them. They had an awesome tournament. It’s hard to make the finals in a 10-team tournament.”
The T-wolves will now head north to Quesnel Dec. 14 for a pair of league games, before taking a break over the holidays.
“A big thanks to our manager Andrea Moe and to the parents for a great job keeping us organized, the team meals, and everything,” Fulton said. “It makes it a lot easier on the coaches.
“On the ice the kids are working hard in practice and in dry land and it’s starting to show in our games.”
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