Oceanside’s Bantam B Sharks are Island champs and looking to keep out of the opposition the at the upcoming provincials.
The local boys of box lacrosse finished their regular season sitting tops in their Island league at 15-1 for 30 points, with the Cowichan Thunder well back at 19 points for second.
The Sharks kickstarted the post season by mauling the Saanich Tigers 15-1, 11-2 in the semifinals, then beat the Campbell River Ravens 9-5 in game one and 11-4 in the deciding game of their best of three in a thriller last Thursday.
According to team manager Tim Clermont Chase Van Dyk got game three started at the Sports Centre in Courtenay early in the first period with a nice goal, with four more ‘Shark bites’ to follow.
Oceanside had a comfortable 7-1 lead going into the third when the Ravens scored two quick goals to make things interesting, but the Sharks “stepped up man for man” with a solid win at the buzzer.
Other goal scorers included a hat trick by team captain Ian Whibley; two each by Liam Lowery, and Brendan Harstad, and singles to Steven Martin, Jesse Chiste, and Jesse Geddes. Jory Clermont won loose ball battles and face offs all night and picked up five assists.
Solid goaltending once again by Cole Haider who shut out the Ravens for the first half of the game.
Whibley, added Clermont, “has been on a scoring terror over the last three playoff games,” scoring six goals in each of the Saanich games and potting four goals to go with three assists against the Ravens.
The coaching duo of Derek Gaughan and Evan Tuck said Clermont “have shown strong leadership and discipline to steer this team to top in Midget B play on the Island,” pointing out the squad also mined gold at the Richmond Romp tournament in June, and have to be seen as a strong medal contender at the Midget provincials slated for July 23-28 in Coquitlam.
