Everybody loves a parade down main street. But nobody loves a parade to the penalty box at the hockey rink. And the latter proved the undoing of the Comox Valley Glacier Kings at the 2013 Cyclone Taylor Cup.
The host Yetis dropped the bronze medal game at the B.C. Junior B championship 5-4 to the Castlegar Rebels Sunday morning at the Comox Valley Sports Centre. With little rest after their Saturday night loss to the
Victoria Cougars, and despite being outshot 17-10 in the first period, the Icemen jumped out to a 3-0 lead before the game was seven minutes old.
But the KIJHL champ Rebels were far from done. Outshooting the Glacier Kings 17-4 in the second stanza, they closed the gap to 3-2 then scored three unanswered goals in the second period (two on the power play) to
take a 5-3 lead. Their shots on goal domination continued in the third, as they out-gunned the Yetis 13-7. However, Rylan Ball tallied his first goal of the tourney at 11:54 of the third to make it a one-goal game.
With goalie Michael Hails dashing in and out of the net in favour of the extra attacker as the final seconds ticked down, the Glacier Kings came close to forcing overtime on a couple of chances but could not slip
the disc past Connor Beauchamp and finished the tourney with an 0-4 record. The Rebels finished at 2-2, with both their wins coming at the expense of the Icemen. They beat the Yetis 3-1 in Thursday’s first round of round-robin play.
Comox Valley captain Nick Tupper finished with three points (1g, 2a) while Jack Kennelly had two helpers.
They were the Glacier Kings’ Players of the Game. Sheldon Brett and Tyson Rennie had the other G-Kings’ goals. Castlegar Players of the Game were Jamie Vlanich (2g, 1a) and team captain Erik Alden (1g, 1a).
After playing a disciplined first game at the tourney, the Glacier Kings could not avoid the sin bin in their ensuing three games, and with the top three B.C. Junior B teams in town, that spelled bad news as the
G-Kings’ penalty kill was no match for the efficient power plays they faced on what seemed to be an almost constant basis.
The gold medal game of the tourney goes at 2:30 p.m. today at the Sports Centre, with the PJHL champ Richmond Sockeyes (3-0) taking on the VIJHL champ Victoria Cougars (2-1).