The Vernon Watkin Motors Mustangs will play the St. Albert Stars of Alberta at 11:30 a.m. Sunday for the C Event championship at the 48th annual Vernon Winter Carnival Coca Cola Classic Pee Wee Hockey Tournament at Kal Tire Place North.
Both teams advanced with consolation side semifinal wins Saturday.
The Mustangs picked up their first win of the tournament, downing the Yellowknife Wolfpack 5-2 in a rematch of last year’s A Event finalists (won 9-5 by Vernon).
Maguire Nicholson had two goals and two assists to pace the Mustangs, who scored three times in the second period.
Tyson Matthews also had two goals for Vernon while Aidan Wattie added the other to support Zachary Bouchard in goal.
The Stars whipped the Mustangs 11-1 to wrap up the preliminary round Friday. Hudson Kibblewhite had the only goal for Vernon while the St. Albert got hat tricks from Finn Kallay and Will Lutic.
St. Albert defeated the California Wave 9-4 in the other consolation side semifinal Saturday.
The Stars finished third in the Coca Cola Division with a 1-2 record, the Mustangs were fourth at 0-3.
The Wolfpack an Wave will meet in the D Final at 9 a.m. Sunday. The Wolfpack finished in a three-way tie for top spot in the Sun Valley Division with the Edmonton Canadians and Port Moody Panthers, each team finishing 2-1, but were dropped to the consolation side on the tournament tiebreaker.
The Wave were 0-3 in the round robin.
The A event championship Sunday at 4:30 p.m. will be an all-Lower Mainland affair with the Panthers taking on the tournament’s only undefeated team, the Vancouver Thunderbirds.
The B final at 2 p.m. will feature the Canadians against the Los Angeles Kings.
The Thunderbirds dumped the Canadians 6-2 in a championship side semifinal Saturday, while the Panthers edged the Kings 3-2. Port Moody scored three unanswered goals in the third period, with Matthew Wickens getting the winner at 10:39.
Vancouver finished first atop the Coca Cola Division at 3-0, following a 3-1 win Friday over the Kings, who went 2-1.
