A round-up of results from hockey teams in the Okanagan.
MINOR HOCKEY
The Kelowna peewee 1A girls hockey team capped a spectacular season in style on Sunday, winning the provincial championship in dramatic fashion.
At Trail, Kelowna scored nine minutes into overtime to defeat Surrey 3-2, rallying from a 2-0 deficit to claim B.C. glory. Kelowna trailed 1-0 after the first period in the gold-medal game, but led 2-1 late in the third, only to have the Falcons tie it with just 30 seconds left in regulation time.
Scoring the golden goal for Kelowna was Cassidy Bank, who redirected a Karington Mollin slapshot. The team noted that goalie Reese Sliskovic was spectacular throughout the game.
The tournament ran March 19-24 in Trail, and also included the following teams: West Kootenay, Prince George, North Shore and South Island.
Of the six Kelowna teams that travelled to provincial championships during spring break, only Kelowna’s girls came back with a medal.
During round-robin play in Trail, Kelowna started with a 10-0 smashing of South Island, but the Rockets lost their next game, 6-5 to Surrey. But Kelowna rebounded, beating Prince George 6-0, West Kootenay 9-1 and North Shore 4-2.
With a winning record, the Rockets advanced to the gold-medal game against Surrey. Kelowna’s coaching staff said the team avenged its round-robin loss via relentless forechecking, timely defensive plays and lights-out goaltending.
Overall, Kelowna finished with a 22-1 record against female teams.
The team consists of Cassidy Bank, Denaya Buehner, Jiya Deol, Jaia Freer, Gracie Graham, Kaitlyn Hillson, London Jones, Kyly Laybolt, Ava Macleod, Madison Mahovlich, Kaitlyn Mallette, Karington Mollin, Alexandra Recsky, Reese Sliskovic, Jaelyn Spavor, Mahala Umeris, head coach John Graham, assistant coaches Tom Buehner, Kyle Recsky, Chris Freer, Kris Mallette and manager Lana Mahovlich.
KOOTENAY INTERNATIONAL JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
Revelstoke 3, Kelowna 1
At Revelstoke, Liam McGarva stopped 48 shots as the Grizzlies eliminated the Chiefs from the post-season by winning Game 6 on Tuesday night.
The win earned Revelstoke a 4-2 series victory as the Grizzlies advanced to the league final against the Kimberley Dynamiters.
Revelstoke won the first two games of the conference final, with Kelowna taking Games 3 and 4. The Grizzlies, though, closed out the series with wins in Games 5 and 6.
Rider McCallum, Ethan Schaeffer and Ullar Wiatzka scored for Revelstoke, which trailed 1-0 after the first period, but led 2-1 after 40 minutes.
McCallum scored at 3:08 of the second to make it 1-1, with Schaeffer making it 2-1 with a power-play goal at 16:05. Wiatzka rounded out the scoring at 2:04 of the third.
Juanre Naude, with a power-play goal at 15:13 of the first, replied for Kelowna, which outshot Revelstoke 49-32.
Braeden Mitchell stopped 29 shots for the Chiefs, who had the league’s best regular-season record (43-3-1-0-2, 89 points). Right behind, though, was Revelstoke (42-6-0-0-1, 85 points).
Kelowna was 1-for-7 on the power play while Revelstoke was 2-for-5. The attendance was not available.
SENIOR MEN’S HOCKEY
In related news, the battle for the 2019 Coy Cup is underway.
The Coy Cup is the senior 2A championship for B.C.
No Okanagan teams are involved, but four teams – Williams Lake, Dawson Creek, Prince Rupert and Fort St. John – are taking part. The tournament in Fort St. John runs March 26-30.
At the 2018 Coy Cup, Kelowna Sparta lost 10-4 to Dawson Creek in the final.
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