The Quesnel Thunder tier three hockey team came home with a second-place finish last weekend from a five-team tournament in Wiliams Lake.
“It was a good test for us,” coach Brian Kozak said of the second-place finish against tier-two teams.
In the tournament championship game, the Thunder faced the host Williams Lake Timberwolves, who had bested them 8-4 earlier in the tournament.
The championship game was a see-saw battle with several momentum shifts, Kozak said.
In the end it came down to the final seconds of play with the Timberwolves taking a 3-2 lead with less than 18 seconds to play.
Kozak said he was pleased with the improvement in his team over the tournament, especially in the defensive zone.
“Williams Lake has a really strong forecheck,” he said.
“In the championship game the players put into practice what we had taught them.
“We have a highly intelligent team, they want to learn and are willing to do what they need to do to be successful.”
The Thunder made it to the tournament championship game with a record of 3-1.
In round-robin action, other than the loss to Williams Lake, posted a 5-0 win against Salmon Arm, a 5-3 win against Prince George and a 7-6 win against Fort St. John.
Kozak, in his first season at the helm of the bantam Thunder, said he was impressed with the improvement in the overall skill of his team.
The Thunder have four opportunities to put into practice what they’ve learned this weekend as they travel to Williams Lake for a pair of games on Saturday, with 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. starts.
Sunday the Thunder travel up to Prince George for a pair of games at the Kin Arenas.
