North Okanagan hockey team saves goalie gear after it was stolen from a Penticton hotel

Thanks to some quick-acting teens, a Penticton-area thief didn’t get far this weekend.

A Penticton police officer was flagged down just after 9 a.m. Saturday by a group of young hockey players who had seen a man take their teammate’s goalie gear from outside a hotel room, where it was being dried.

“A few players from the team observed a male enter the property of the hotel and steal pieces of goalie gear prior to departing toward Riverside Drive,” RCMP said in a press release.

The young players followed the man at a distance to keep an eye on him and eventually came across an officer in the area.

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“We waved down an officer who immediately helped us catch the guy. It was the craziest thing,”  Braxton Tessman, goalie for the U18 North Okanagan Knights, said.

Tessman and his team were in town for a series of games over the weekend.

“No one wants to travel to a community and become a victim of theft, especially that of a youth, who relies on the sporting gear to remain active and do something they love,” Const. Kelly Brett said.

The suspect, a 31-year-old Penticton man, was arrested and later released from custody.