The B.C. Interior 97s bowed 3-2 to Team North America in Sunday’s final of the Elite Onehockey International AAA Challenge in Spruce Grove, Alta.
Blaine Caton of Vernon gave the 97s the lead 33 seconds into the gold-medal game. Deven Sideroff of the Okanagan Hockey Academy in Penticton also scored, and led the 97s with five goals and 15 points on the weekend.
Goalie Brendan Barry (Pursuit of Excellence, Kelowna) turned in a stellar showing. Barry was 2-1 and Josh Shank of Kamloops went 2-0-1 and made the all-star team.
Vernon’s Jeff Bochon, who racked up five goals and eight points, joined William Lawerance of POE (4-4-8) on the all-star squad.
Coached by Murray Caton and Todd Richards of Vernon, the 97s won three and tied once in the round-robin, and then clipped Team Northern B.C. 3-2 in the semifinals on two goals by Steven Fuist of OHA and one from Jeran Knorr of Kelowna.
The Interior crew slammed Spruce Grove 8-1 in their opener with Bochon and Caton each earning 1+1.
They followed up with a 5-0 win over Northern B.C., a 2-2 tie with North America and an 11-1 thumping of Manitoba with Bochon bagging the hat trick.
Caton finished with 5-5-10, while Hayden Chase of Vernon pocketed 2-6-8. Alex McGovern of Vernon was sidelined with an injury.
The Black Forest Noodle Valley ‘99 Selects closed out their spring hockey season by brushing back the Kelowna Red Heat 5-3 in Winfield.
Matt Kowalski, with a pair of goals, Dean Whitcomb, Reed Cashato and Brady Marzocco handled the Select’ offence.
The Black Forest Noodle crew went 3-3 at the Kamloops Pirates Challenge on the Easter weekend, opening with a 6-4 loss to the Okanagan Selects. Cashato was the game MVP.
