100 Mile Minor Hockey’s Bantam Mayvin Gas & Heat Milers ended its hockey season with a sixth-place finish at the Paul Brenner Memorial Bantam Tournament in Chilliwack, March 23-25.
The Milers opened the tourney by skating to a 4-1 win over the Surrey Hawks on Friday night.
The opening goal came from Emmett Collens, assisted by Katie Toews and Dylan McNeil, halfway through the second period.
Surrey bounced back with a shorthanded goal, but the Milers proved to be too strong and popped in two quick markers to end the second stanza with a 3-1 lead.
The other second-period goals were notched by Ben Ryan, on assists from Derek Popadinac and Ryan Cross, while Popadinac also scored an unassisted tally.
Toews set up McNeil who dented the twine to give the Milers the 4-1 lead in the final frame. Toews was also chosen as the game Most Valuable Player (MVP).
Game 2 saw 100 Mile take on Chilliwack #3 and gain another 4-1 victory.
Lynden Jeffrey had two goals and two assists, while Ryan and Popadinac each found the back of the net for the Milers.
Outstanding goal tending by Jordan Johnston saw him take game MVP.
Game 3 of round-robin play had the Milers going up against Aldergrove, and when the buzzer sounded to end the game, the score clock registered a 2-2 tie.
Collens and Jeffrey scored for the Milers.
Michael Toews earned game MVP for his excellent goal tending.
With 12 teams in the C division, 100 Mile placed fifth after round-robin play, sending them to the consolation final against the Seattle Badgers on Sunday afternoon.
Unfortunately, the Milers were down two players after Saturday, which left them with a short bench.
The Milers were up 3-0 after the first period of the consolation game and exchanged goals with Seattle in the second stanza for a 4-1 lead going into the third.
However, penalties plagued the 100 Mile squad in the final frame and Seattle came back to knot the score with 37 seconds left on the clock. Then the Badgers scored in the sudden death overtime period for the 5-4 win.
Tyker Purcha was chosen as game MVP, and also earned the honour as the team MVP of the tournament with his consistent overall performance.
The Milers had a fantastic season coming second in their home tournament in November, second in Enderby, third in the Williams Lake Tier 3 Rep Tournament, and first in the Hope Bantam C Tournament in February.
The Milers record for the past two tournaments was a very respectable seven wins, one loss and one tie.
The Milers squad included Ryan Cross, Tyker Purcha, Lynden Jeffrey, Derek Popadinac, Ben Ryan, Michael Toews, Jordan Johnston, Lee Bromley, Dylan McNeil, Brandon Moore, Emmett Collens and Katie Toews. Other members included Conner Edle, Nathan Foote, Jesse Wallace, Lucille Paul, Harry Gale, Jesse Stich and Kyle Welton who were not available for the last tournament
The coaches were Duanne Popadinac, Vern Jeffrey and Scott Cross. Kersti Foote is the co-manager and Hockey Canada safety person.
