The crowd went wild when B.C. defeated Alberta 5-4 Saturday to win the ‘A’ bronze medal at the 2016 National PeeWee Lacrosse Championships.
And well they should have, as it was Jordan Vincent of the Comox Valley Wild netting the winning goal in overtime to earn Team BC third spot at the seven-team tourney, held July 31 to Aug. 6 in Whitby, Ont.
“The bronze medal game was one for the ages,” quipped Jordan’s father, Shawn Vincent. “We were up 1-0 after one while badly out-shooting our neighbours to the east. Second was more of the same - lots of shots but only one goal to show for a 3-1 shot margin.
“Then the wheels fell off in the third. Alberta scored their first at the 12:30 mark of the final frame. A minute later they tied it up and our boys looked like their balloon got popped,” Shawn Vincent said.
“By the nine minute point it was 4-2 Alberta, and (coach Curt) Malawsky called a timeout with around six minutes left. At 2:05 on the clock Cody Malawsky scored to make it 4-3 and the B.C. bench erupted.
“At 1:04 Malawsky did it again and then Alberta hung on to get to overtime. B.C. held the play in OT, still out-shooting them. At the six-minute mark of the 10-minute OT Jordan got an outlet pass and took off to the races.
“With big number 18 from Alberta bearing down on him, Jordan went top shelf for the 5-4 lead. To their credit the Alberta squad picked it up the last five minutes, but the B.C. boys held the fort for the victory.”
After going 6-1 in preliminary round play to finish second at the tourney, the B.C. boys lost a tough 5-4 decision to third-place First Nations in Friday’s (Aug. 5) semifinals.
It was 2-2 after one period with First Nations up 4-2 after two. “The boys hit at least eight posts and two crossbars in the last minute, but the First Nations kids played very well today,” said Shawn Vincent.
Preliminary Round
After dropping their first game (and tourney opener) 8-0 to perennial powerhouse Ontario on Aug. 1, Team BC rolled through the rest of preliminary round play. They edged Manitoba 8-7 on Monday afternoon, with Vincent tallying a goal and three assists.
On Aug. 2 Team BC won a barn-burner 5-4 over Alberta in the morning, with Malawsky showing his confidence in Vincent by having the 12-year-old defender on the floor for the game’s final minute. B.C. blew out Nova Scotia 16-0 in Tuesday's final game to qualify for a spot in the semifinals on Friday, then crushed Saskatchewan 16-0 on Wednesday.
On Thursday, B.C. improved to 5-1 with a 6-2 win over First Nations in their final preliminary round game. The game was tied 2-2 at the end of two before B.C. pulled away in the third. Shawn Vincent said his son had a nice assist on the winning goal and according to coach Malawsky "played like a man, with several big hits."
BOXLA BITS Ontario went undefeated, beating First Nations 9-3 in Saturday’s ‘A’ gold medal game … Manitoba defeated Nova Scotia 6-1 Saturday to win ‘B’ gold … the tournament was part of the Ontario Lacrosse Festival, which included the national Midget championship …