They were focused and they skated hard and at the end of the game, they smiled.
In all, eight atom hockey teams made their way to Twin Arenas and some won more games than others, but they all came out with smiles.
One of those players, was first-year player Mykola Hendricks, 10, with the Quesnel Black Panthers.
Hendricks, a Grade 5 student at École Baker, stepped up and put the goal pads on for his team against the Prince George Green Goblins.
The Goblins kept Hendricks busy as they skated to a 7-2 win.
But Hendricks still enjoyed the game.
“It was hard,” Hendricks said with a smile of the game that saw him make many saves.
Among the saves was a highlight-reel glove save in the first period.
“That was my favourite save,” he said without hesitating.
In his first year as a netminder, Hendricks chose the position after a successful stint in street hockey.
“I like the pressure,” he said of why he enjoys being a netminder.
Panthers coach, Jim Scott, was also unfazed by the score as he pointed to the happy post-game hustle and bustle in the dressing room.
“The kids had a lot of fun and they kept working until the very end,” he said.
“They came off the ice with smiles on their faces, so I think it was a good game.”
In a Saturday afternoon game, the Quesnel Red Vipers overcame an early three-goal deficit to edge the Williams Lake Wolf Pack 8-5.
Tony Goulet, coach of the Vipers, only had two words for the work of his netminder.
“Holy cow, he stood on his head for us,” Goulet said of Lachlan Climenhage-Monk.
One of the nicer goals was scored by Reese Smith, who went coast to coast, with one concern.
“I was worried about a poke-check from the defence,” he said.
As for the goal, Smith responded like any typical player.
“My mind went crazy,” he said with a big smile.
For Goulet, the score was secondary, it was the effort he chose to highlight.
“I couldn’t be prouder,” Goulet said of his nine and 10-year-old players.
