Coaches have spent many hours preparing young players to accommodate bodychecking within the game of hockey. At the spring hockey season mainland cup, it didn’t take long for the youngsters to use the skill in a real game situation.
Participating in the Westcoast Elite team were Powell River Minor Hockey Association Atom Development players Cameron Stevenson, Caleb Parkhouse and Michael Behan. Their teammates came from Courtenay North and Port McNeill, and together they travelled to the mainland cup hockey tournament in Vancouver to play their first games of the year.
At the tournament, 28 teams from all over Western Canada vied for position. In round-robin play, Western Elite were unbeaten, 4-0. This sent the team into the highest tier in the competition, and in the finals it played against a very fast and talented team from Victoria.
The game started quickly for Victoria who took the opening faceoff and scored 10 seconds into the first period. Western Elite worked hard to even the score but it was a tremendous battle that ended 1-0 after three hard-fought periods of excellent hockey. Western Elite had to be happy with silver.
The team will play a number of exhibition games and practices while preparing for its next tournament, which is in Kelowna on May 4 to 6.
