Doug Korsmo’s hat-trick performance helped the Penticton peewee rec Raptors defeat the Penticton Ducks 9-5 at Memorial Arena Jan. 26.
The victory clinched the Penticton Minor Hockey Association peewee recreation tournament. Bevis Chou helped power the Raptors offence in the final with two goals, while Connor Hussey,
A. J. Reiter, Dylan LaRose and Jacob Stewart added singles. Tate Larson earned the win in net. Replying for the Ducks were Daniel Martin with three, Kieran Simpson and Eric Kwakernaak adding a goal each.
Raptors coach Mike Burghardt said his players were confident they had a good chance of winning the tournament.
“We’ve been looking like a strong team,” said Burghardt, whose players were very excited about their tournament win. “The kids played awesome. It was just a much better team effort that we were able to pull out.”
The Raptors, who won a tournament in Salmon Arm the weekend before, opened with a 7-1 victory against the Kelowna Stars on the strength of two-goal efforts by Chou and Spencer Toneatto. Penticton then whipped past the Castlegar Ice Dawgs 15-0. Larson earned the shutout, while Chou and Reiter scored hat-tricks, Sanamveer Khatra scored a pair, Allanson, Korsmo, LaRose, Stewart, Cohyn Cutler and Toneatto added singles.
The Raptors earned a second shutout against the Aldergrove Nighthawks 13-0 with Chou leading the charge with four goals, while Toneatto and Reiter each added two.
In the semifinal against Langley, which Burghardt said was their toughest opponent, the Raptors won 10-4. Chou and Cam Glibbery tallied hat-tricks, LaRose scored twice, while Reiter and Toneatto added singles. Overall, the Raptors are 27-5-1, while scoring 217 goals. In regular season play, they are 12-4-0, scoring 100 goals, allowing 53.
Wayne Potter, coach of the Ducks, said his team played in some hard-fought games.
“I think it was initially tough to lose, but the team was still able to celebrate our achievement in the dressing room afterwards,” he said. “I am very proud of the way they played, I think back to the beginning of the season and how far they have come.”
Despite losing to the Raptors, it was a confidence boost for the group.
“We need a little more work to beat the Raptors,” he said. “I think they just did the little things better than us.”
The Ducks opened the tournament winning 7-4 against Vernon. Simpson led the charge with four goals, while Martin, Logan Anderson-Fraser and Xander Whyte added singles. In an 8-7 win over Semiahmoo, Martin potted four goals, while Simpson added three and Kwakernaak, one. The Ducks then edged Kelowna, 11-10 in a scoring spree. Martin scored four, while Anderson-Fraser and Kwakernaak tallied hat tricks and Simpson, one. In a 6-4 win over Vernon, Martin led with two goals, while Anderson-Fraser, Simpson, Kwakernaak and Kai Ballance scored one each.
In other minor hockey action, the Penticton midget Tier 2 Vees lost 3-1 to the Kelowna Rockets at Memorial Arena on Jan. 25 and 26.
The bantam Tier 2 Vees were shutout 4-0 against West Kelowna at Royal LePage Place on Jan.24. The Vees then bounced back to defeat Greater Trail 4-1 in Memorial Arena on Jan. 25. On Sunday, the Vees then slipped past the Kamloops Blazers 7-5 in the South Okanagan Events Centre.
In bantam Tier 3 action, the Penticton Vees edged Salmon Arm 1-0 in Salmon Arm on Jan. 25.
The peewee Tier 2 Vees lost 6-2 to Kelowna at the CNC. In peewee Tier 3, Merritt handily beat the Vees 11-2 at McLaren Arena on Jan. 25.
