It took the entire junior B provincial lacrosse tournament, but the Saanich Tigers got their win and a bronze medal.
The Kamloops Venom won gold, beating the Delta Islanders 6-3 on Sunday afternoon.
Earlier on Sunday, the Tigers enjoyed its only win of the four-game, four-team tournament held at Bear Mountain Arena, with a 7-3 defeat of host Westshore Bears.
Reborn as a franchise last year by coach Chris Jackson, the Tigers won the Pacific Northwest Junior Lacrosse League playoffs in July in series wins over the Peninsula Warriors and Cowichan Valley Thunder.
The Bears earned a bye as hosts while the Venom and Islanders entered as the respective champions of the Thompson Okanagan and West Coast junior leagues.
Kamloops went undefeated and qualified for the Founders Cup national championship held in Six Nations, Ont. next week, Aug. 14 to 19.
Leading the Tigers in scoring in the bronze-medal game on Sunday was Saanich captain Ethan Garland with three goals, two of them into an empty net at the end of the game.
Clutch goals from Quinton Hamilton and Craig King kept the Tigers in it, while goalkeeper Jared Jackson was named the Tigers’ MVP of the game with 33 saves.
Nolan Ryan, Sam Chiasson and Kelly Schiarizza each scored once for the Bears.
The Bears named Tristan Calve their MVP for his hustle.
Westshore had defeated the Tigers 11-8 in the first game of the tournament on Friday morning.
B.C. doubles at nationals
Thirteen-year-old Elle Hamilton of Langford was the only player on home soil as Team B.C. won the girls bantam lacrosse nationals at Bear Mountain Arena, July 29 to Aug. 3.
B.C. defeated Ontario 4-3 in the gold medal final, a rematch of Ontario’s 4-3 overtime win in their round robin match.
In the midget division, hometown girls Kat Gosselin, 16, of Colwood and Talia Mavin, 15, of Langford, spurred Team B.C. to a 4-2 win over Ontario in the gold medal game.
Silver lining for intermediates
The intermediate A (17- and 18-year-olds) Victoria Shamrocks nearly won its second B.C. championship in three years while the Juan de Fuca Whalers nearly won their fourth straight Int. B title as both made the provincial gold medal finals in Burnaby on Monday.
Both came up short, however, with the New Westminster Salmonbellies edging the Shamrocks 12-9, and the Port Moody Thunder beating the Whalers 10-8.
