Skip to content

Pee Wee Rep Kings finish second at provincial championship

Loss has silver lining for host club
Powell River Pee Wee Rep Kings
PODIUM FINISH: Powell River Pee Wee Rep Kings won the silver medal at the 2019 BC Hockey Pee Wee Tier 3 Championship held at Hap Parker Arena from March 17 to 21. Paul Galinski photo

Powell River Pee Wee Rep Kings’ run toward a provincial title was thwarted by a powerhouse team from Whitehorse in the gold-medal final of the 2019 BC Hockey Pee Wee Tier 3 Championship at Hap Parker Arena on Thursday, March 21.

Powell River hit the post twice in period one while their Yukon opponents capitalized on a pair of chances to take a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes. Kings were unable to convert on several more opportunities around the net during a second period that saw Whitehorse increase its lead to 5-0.

Benjamin Belyea brought the crowd to its feet twice in the third period, scoring the home team’s only goals in a 9-2 loss.

Powell River began the 10-team tournament with a 4-3 win over Terrace and a loss to Whitehorse on Sunday, March 17.

The host club regrouped and tied Kelowna 2-2 the following afternoon and booked a spot in the semi-final with a 4-3 win over Burnaby on Tuesday, March 19. Nova Andrews opened the scoring for Powell River and Max Carlson recorded a hat-trick.

In the semi-final on Wednesday, March 20, Powell River edged Whistler 1-0 to advance to the championship game and guarantee winning at least a silver medal. Carlson scored the only goal and goaltender Hunter Bolen stopped every shot against to secure the win.

Whitehorse scored 61 goals over six games at the tournament. Whistler defeated Quesnel 6-0 in the bronze-medal game earlier in the day. For all results, go to events.teamsnap.com/events/5965/results/division.

Meanwhile, at the BC Hockey Midget Tier 3 Championship in Cranbrook, Powell River Midget Rep Kings’ bid to repeat as provincial gold medalists came to an end on Wednesday, March 20. In a rematch of last year’s final, Mission defeated Powell River 6-3 in the semi-final to advance to the championship game.

We were so unlucky; we outshot them but they got the bounces today,” said assistant coach Scott Mastrodonato. “We hit a few crossbars and had no puck luck when it mattered most.”

Less than 10 hours later, the midget reps returned to the ice for the bronze-medal game against Squamish and fell just short of the podium after a 2-1 loss.

“We outshot them 35-17 but just couldn’t muster the goals we needed,” said Mastrodonato, adding that the players were “running on fumes” after an exhausting six games in four days.

Powell River posted a record of three wins and one loss in round-robin play en route to the medal round.

“It was close,” said Mastrodonato. “The kids gave it their all but fell short.”

Terrace beat Mission 4-2 to win gold.