In a back-and-forth championship final, it was the Langley Dusters prevailing over Chilliwack.
The bantam hockey teams were playing for the gold medal in the finals of a tournament in Salmon Arm earlier this month (March 7 to 9).
Chilliwack jumped out to 2-0 lead before Langley regrouped to take the 3-2 lead with four minutes to play. But after Chilliwack tied the score with only two minutes to play — and overtime looming — the Dusters struck off a scramble around their opponent’s net, banging home the winner for the 4-3 victory.
The victory also avenged an earlier loss — just one of three all season for Langley — to that same Chilliwack squad at a tournament in Hope earlier this season.
The Dusters went 5-0 at the Salmon Arm tournament, improving their overall record to 37-3-2.
Langley beat Williams Lake 8-2, shut-out the host Salmon Arm team 8-0 and edged Kelowna 4-2 in round robin play. In the semifinals, the Dusters broke open a 1-1 game in the third period with four unanswered goals to beat West Kelowna 5-1.
The team is made up of Ryan Barthelso, Tyson Brown, Cameron Eggertson, Austin Fadear, Callum Farish-Barker, Jaden Goertzen, Liam Hadley, Jake Harper, Kristian Lyon, Katherine May, Spencer McKissock, Conner Morison, Caleb Pearson, Cameron Ross and Alan Guo Long Zhong.
The team is coached by Carey Eggertson, Dom Arrotta, Bruce Goertzen, Rick McKissock. Amanda Barthelson is the team manager.
