The Quesnel Thunder Atom Select team won silver at the Remembrance Day Classic tournament in Kamloops last weekend (Nov. 9-11).
Head coach Mike Riley says he is pleased with the growth the team has shown since 2017.
“Last year we took the same team to the tournament and we were in the A3 division, which we won,” he says. “This year we moved up to the A2 division, which is a division up.
“We have seven returning players, so we felt like we could compete and obviously we competed well.”
The team faced off against Salmon Arm in their first game on Friday night, losing 7-2.
“That was a tough one,” says Riley, who thinks the distance covered earlier might have contributed to some sluggishness: “It was our travel day and most of our kids travelled there that morning.”
Jayden Campbell won the game MVP for the first game. His coach says he won the award for being the team’s hardest working player.
A good night’s sleep helped the team in a big way, as their Saturday morning game was won by a score of 18-3 over an out-matched North Delta squad.
“We got a lot better that day,” Riley says. His son, Blake Riley, potted five goals in the blowout, while line mate Riley Lettington netted four and claimed the game’s MVP award.
In the afternoon, their strong play continued with an 8-1 thrashing of the home team. They beat Kamloops in a game where Blake Riley snagged game MVP honours by scoring a hat trick. Lettington notched a pair too.
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The team from Kamloops didn’t fare much better during the semi-finals rematch on Sunday morning. The Thunder clobbered their opponents 11-1 with their top line of Blake Riley, Lettington and Nathan Pressey combining for nine of the 11 goals.
That afternoon, the Thunder faced off with the only team to defeat them and although they managed to muster a stronger effort, the pucks didn’t bounce their way in a 5-1 loss.
“It was one of those games where it could have gone either way,” says Riley. “Just a few breaks went their way. The score wasn’t really indicative of the play as the shots were even.”
Riley, who is happy with the way the team played on the road, says their top line set the tone for the tournament.
“They were pretty dominant in all their games and really lead the way,” he says. “They used each other, passed the puck really well, sustained pressure and had great forechecking.
“The other lines are really starting to click and it is coming along for them too. One we get more sustained scoring from all lines, we’ll keep competing harder and harder against these top teams.”
Also noteworthy was Brin Powell’s performance on defence and a steady tournament showing from Henley Hannah in goal.
The next few weeks will see the young team putting in a lot of hours at the rink.
“We’re in Salmon Arm in three weeks,” Riley says, “and the competition will be even stiffer in that tournament.
“We’ll keep practising hard, as we’ve found some things we need to work on and when we get there we’ll be ready to go take another crack at them.”
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