The South Island Royals midget A women’s hockey team are silver medalists after a long trip to the provincial championships in Fort St. John.
The team had a tough schedule to contend with, starting off the tournament by facing the two favourites to win it all, said Mike Goldsworthy.
They dropped Game 1 to the Richmond Ravens 7-2, a wake-up call for the Royals. By Game 2, they were ready for the North Shore Avalanche. The Royals “Sooke line” of Ireland Greenhough, Jayme Vivian and Laura Clark scored all four Royals goals while goalie Lindsay Goldsworthy turned away 42 of 44 shots to win 4-2. The Royals potted four again in the next game, a 4-1 win over the Kamloops Jr. Blazers (goalie Nicole Ladouceur stopped all but one of the shots she faced).
The defensive corps of captain Shayla MacDonald, Grace Finck, Abby Clark and Emma Monahan then stymied what Goldsworthy called a hungry Vancouver Angels team, holding them to a 1-1 tie.
In their final match of the round robin, against the LB Energy Predators, it was the Sooke line which struck again, quieting the crowd just 14 seconds into the game. The Royals went on to win 4-1 to advance to the gold medal final, a rematch with the Richmond Ravens.
To start, the Royals held off the Ravens but the the speed and skill of the Ravens proved too much as they defeated the Royals 4-0.
With a silver medal, the Royals were all smiles after the game knowing they had played hard all week to come away with this group’s best ever finish at the B.C. provincial championships, Goldsworthy said.
