The 2002 Ridge Meadows Roughnecks spring hockey team completed its schedule of competitive games for the 2013 spring season on Sunday, taking part in their third tournament, the Valley Cup in north Surrey, and bringing home their third medal of the year in the Atom Major division.
The Roughnecks played tough teams from Semiahmoo, Burnaby, Vancouver and Langley, losing two of the four opening round-robin games and finishing third in their division.
They fought back, however, in the semi-final game against the EHS Knights from Semiahmoo. After going down by a goal, they scored five unanswered, securing their spot in the gold medal game on Sunday afternoon.
Their opponents in the gold medal game were the Valley Chiefs, a very strong Langley-based team, undefeated in the tournament, who had earlier beaten Roughnecks by a wide margin.
Having no expectations of winning the game, the Roughnecks played their hearts out making this their game of the season, holding their opponents at bay with great bravery in blocking shots and with some amazing reaction saves from goalie Justin Falconer. Finally, mid-way through the second period, they finally gave up a power play goal. A second goal late in the third period sealed matters and Roughnecks had to be content with a silver medal to add to their silver medal at the Canlan Spring Showdown and gold at the Steveston Meltdown.
Goalie Justin Falconer made 38 saves in the gold medal game alone and was ably supported by Evan Jonsen in a number of other games. Through the six games the Roughnecks found the net 26 times. Winger Vincent Timperio contributed most points with four goals and five assists, each of Alex Trosthiem, Dawson Ignatieff and Kyle Sackmann contributed five goals, while Caleb Douglas helped create seven goals.
This fourth season of the Roughnecks has been the most successful yet thanks in large part to the development coaching of Garett MacDonald of GM Defensive and Brenden Vogt of both RPM and Pacific Coast Goaltending. The Roughnecks have won 22 of their 31 games, scoring a whopping 198 goals while only conceding 94.
