The novice B1 Thunder display their silver medals from the Travis Bateman Memorial Tournament. (Submitted)

The novice B1 Thunder display their silver medals from the Travis Bateman Memorial Tournament. (Submitted)

Novice B1 Thunder bring home silver

Cowichan lacrosse team battles to tournament final

The novice B1 Cowichan Thunder took silver at the Travis Bateman Memorial Lacrosse Tournament hosted by Juan de Fuca in Colwood last weekend.

Cowichan started off with two decisive victories on Friday, beating JDF B2 14-3 in the morning and Peninsula B1 in the afternoon.

Saturday’s lone game was a thriller that saw Cowichan come back from a 6-3 deficit with nine minutes left in the third period, getting all three goals from Jeff Blosky to tie the game at 6-6 and clinch second place in the pool. Cowichan goalie Marcus Jones was a wall as Saanich pressed hard for the entire game.

“We took some penalties which cost us a few powerplay goals,” head coach Corey Sylvester said. “But the team rallied around each other and made a great comeback.”

The Thunder played another thriller in Sunday morning’s semifinal against JDF B3. The game came down to the last two minutes, when Hagan Purinton scooped up a loose ball and buried it in the net to secure a chance to play for gold.

The gold-medal game was a tough one for Cowichan as Nanaimo B2 took an early lead and rolled to a 12-3 final score, handing the Thunder the silver medal.

Cowichan Valley Citizen