For the second year in a row, the atom female Cowichan Valley Capitals won their division at the Angels on Ice hockey tournament in Langley between Christmas and New Year’s.
Cowichan needed a 13-player shootout to win the tournament in 2017, but it wasn’t quite as dramatic this time around as the team went undefeated and didn’t allow a single goal throughout the tournament, due both to the outstanding goaltending of Sophia Kennedy and the Capitals’ commitment to competing at both ends of the rink.
“The entire team played great hockey the entire tournament and never allowed the other teams any hope that they might beat us,” coach Brad Scafe said. “As a coach, I have never been apart of a team that did not allow at least one goal against in a tournament it was really something to see. The work ethic and commitment to team play has been second to none with this group of girls; as a coach it has been great to be a part of.
“The girls not only work hard in games but in each and every practice, and their improvement as hockey players has been very noticeable not only by our coaching staff, but from the other teams we played in the tournament, with compliments coming from their coaching staff saying what a pleasure it was to watch how well our girls play a team game and how hard they work. As a coach and a parent that is a great compliment to receive about your team.”
Just three days later, the team hosted a tournament with visiting teams from Saanich, Ridge Meadows and Delta.
Cowichan won the first two games against Ridge Meadows and Saanich by big margins, but met their match in Delta, and the teams played to a 2-2 tie in a preview of the gold-medal game. Cowichan came out strong in the final, but couldn’t beat the Delta goalie. Trailing 2-0 going into the third period, the Capitals pushed hard, but ran out of gas and had to settle for a 5-0 final score and the silver medal.
“As a coach, I couldn’t have been more proud of our team and how they played over that stretch of games, and how they handled the fact that they only lost one game in two tournaments — it just happened to be in the final,” Scafe said.
