Last weekend, local bantam and midget hockey players from the house league saw their first action as separate teams at a tournament hosted by the Quesnel and District Minor Hockey Association.
The bantam team took full advantage of the opportunity and took first place among the four bantam teams, beating out two teams from Prince George and a team from Williams Lake.
The bantams began the tournament with a 5-3 win Saturday morning over a team from Prince George and later followed that with 6-2 win over the team from Williams Lake.
The Quesnel bantam team finished the tournament with two more wins on Sunday, an 11-3 shellacking of the second team from Prince George and a 4-2 win in a return engagement with the first team from Prince George.
Scoring for the Quesnel bantam team came from several players, including Brayden Jack, Kyle Christieson, Jamie Klassen, Shane Fjeld, Tristan Hjorth, Caleb Schwartz, Quinn Doucette and Logan Lybeck who each scored at least three goals in the tournament.
The midget team had a more difficult time at the tournament, but did finish third in a field that included teams from Valemont, Prince George and 100 Mile House.
The Quesnel midgets had a rough start to the tournament Friday evening with an 11-1 loss to the team from Valemont. They came back Saturday morning with a solid 7-5 win over Prince George.
Saturday afternoon the Quesnel midget team faced off against the team from 100 Mile House.
Despite best intentions, the outcome of the game did not sit well with the players, nor was it expected by coach Dave McCulloch.
“The boys played pretty hard,” McCulloch said.
“They [his players] got a little rough at the end and we’re working on that.
“They have to learn to focus on the game.”
With the score 5-2 in favour of 100 Mile and less than 10 minutes to play, the Quesnel players were visibly frustrated and began to play a little more physical than the rules would allow.
The lack of discipline saw the Quesnel team collect six penalties in the last eight minutes of play.
Not helping matters was a solid check delivered to one of their teammates.
“They have to learn that it’s all part of hockey,” he said.
“It’s all about sportsmanship, that’s why we’re here.”
Although penalties are a part of the game, they can decide a team’s fate at a tournament as the number of penatlies a team accumulates is used as a tie-breaker, McCulloch explained.
Coaching a team of players that have never played together does present challenges, McCulloch said.
Not surprising, considering that players are from different teams, at the top of the list is the concept of team play.
“The biggest challenge is getting them to play their positions,” he said.
“It’s also difficult to get them to hustle hard and work as a team.”
The Quesnel midget team did get their revenge as they finished the weekend with a close 3-2 win over 100 Mile House Sunday morning.
Leading the midget team on the scoresheet were Justin White with four goals and Michael Dodge, Kyle Kainth, Mitch Doucette and Lucas Laberge each contributed two goals.
The banjet league in Quesnel and other towns arise out of necessity, director of banjet hockey for the QDMHA, Candace Miller explained
“There aren’t enough bantam and midget-aged players in Quesnel to form enough teams to have separate leagues,” Miller said.
Consequently, players aged 13 – 17 suit up for three teams in a banjet league.
Normally, the 13 – 14 year olds would play in a bantam hockey league and the 15 – 17 year olds would play in a separate midget hockey league.
