Morning Star Staff
The Stevenson Mechanical Bolts went 1-1 in the Okanagan Valley Pee Wee House Hockey Championships at the Art Holding Arena in Chase.
The Bolts rolled over Merritt Interior Savings 5-1 Saturday afternoon.
Levi Vanderdeen’s point bomb caromed to Easton Rayner, who threw the puck in front for Caleb James to jam home. On the next shift, Ashton Pede cruised down the left wing, and from the top of the circle, lashed a backhander in on the glove side.
Just past the eight-minute mark, Chris Bond won a draw back to Jordyn Morris, whose quick wrister deflected off traffic high into the net. Just seconds into the third period, Ethan Keber make a flurry of saves for Vernon, including one where he threw up his mitt to take away a sure goal.
Minutes later, Quinn Soon took off down the left side and fired, and James buried the rebound. Merritt banged in one next, and then the Bolts promptly replied, as Logan Thoma muscled the puck up the boards to Sapion Joe, who bolted out of his zone, going the distance before slamming in his own rebound.
Jackson Soucy was an anchor on the Bolts’ blueline.
On Saturday night, the Bolts bowed 4-2 to the Chase Broncos despite carrying the play for much of the game.
After Chase jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first, Vernon turned the tables and outshot their hosts by a 2-1 margin the rest of the way.
Late in the first, Ronan Bedard was robbed in close, but the shifty winger followed the puck behind the net and centered to James for a tap-in. In the second, Teja Sheldrake turned aside the few pucks that made it past the fearless shot-blocking of Bradley Halvorson and Soon.
Just past the halfway point, James tipped a pass from Shaelyn Cecchini on to Pede, who snapped home the equalizer. The Bolts pressed the attack, but Pede and Vanderdeen both rang iron.
Against the flow, Chase capitalized with nine minutes to play, and then sank an empty-netter in the dying seconds to advance to the final against the Penticton Guardians.
The Bolts were the only Vernon minor hockey team to win a Super League playoff banner.
The Sun Valley Source for Sports Tier 1 Bantam Vipers went 2 and 2 in the Ridge Meadows turney.
Dawson Chase collected 3+2 as the Vipers opened by gonging Cloverdale 7-1. Mika Burns, with 1+2, Aiden Rysen, Joe Eggert and Tyson Sampert completed the attack.
The Sun Valley Sports crew then grounded the Nanaimo Clippers 5-1 in a physical game Saturday.
Burns and Chase each supplied deuces, while Nicholas Cherkowski added 1+2.
Vernon lost 4-2 to the Calgary North Stars Sunday with Rysen and Eric Noren scoring.
Another Calgary entry knocked off the Vipers 3-1 in the semifinals with Caden Bracken scoring the Vernon goal.
