On Saturday, Oct. 3, the Campbell River Midget A Tyees hosted Peninsula Eagles (tier 2) at Rod Brind’Amour Arena in a tiering game.
Dominik Bellefleur started between the pipes for the Tyees in this one. Both teams began the game with a bit of speed and finesse, forcing each goalie to make a couple of good saves with a little bit of help from the red steel. First period ended without any scoring.
The Tyees were on the power play with a 2 man advantage when Luke Lund worked the puck back to Doug Campbell at the point. Campbell’s howitzer rippled the twine and turned the red light on to open the scoring; 1-0.
The Eagles tied it just as a Tyee penalty expired then took the lead before the mid-game flood. After play resumed, and with the puck in the Tyee defensive zone, Campbell moved the puck to Matt Barker who banked it hard off the glass and out into the neutral zone with Will McLean in hot pursuit.
McLean split the D then cleared them as he fired a wrist shot to put the biscuit in the basket and tie the game at 2 before the end of the second period.
Back on the penalty kill, Sage Lim showed that you can control the puck with a series of small touches as he played a personal game of keep-away with the Eagles in their own end to run precious seconds off the clock.
When the Eagles did regain possession, they attacked the Tyee net with a vengeance. Liam Rivett kept the shooting lanes open, allowing Bellefleur to stand tall and make the initial save.
Dalton Kimbasket grabbed the loose puck and shot it down the ice to relieve the pressure.
The Eagles ultimately took the lead for good in the third as they put a trio of pucks into the Tyee net, two of them coming from similar plays where they worked the puck behind the Tyee net and passed it to a man in the low slot for a one-timer leaving Bellefleur no chance on the play. Final score was 5-2 for the Eagles.
Sunday, Oct. 4 had the Tyees back on the road to Nanaimo Ice Centre to play their A (tier 1) team. Carson Borgfjord got the nod in net for this one and kept the Tyees in the game with a few good saves early on. Nanaimo opened the scoring and enjoyed a 3-0 lead at the mid-game flood although the Tyees had a few chances just prior to the stoppage in play.
The Tyees used some good hustle and nice passing to break the goose-egg as Owen Boyd moved it to Darian Swift who in turn found Nic Ordano with Ordano pulling the trigger on the Tyees’ first goal. Nanaimo replied to make it 4-1 but the Tyees dug deep and kept their feet moving. In the offensive zone, Lim and Tyler Dickson worked a bit of a cycle before Dickson fed Seth Parker at the point. Parkers blast was too much for the Nanaimo goalie to handle; 4-2 Nanaimo. The Tyees later killed off a penalty by keeping the puck in the Nanaimo zone but couldn’t replicate the feat as Nanaimo scored power play goal to extend their lead to 5-2. They added one more to make it 6-2 then Hayden Cross put a nice shot on the Nanaimo goal that rebounded towards Ordano. He tracked it then grabbed it and rippled the twine to make it a 6-3 final.
