Blue Cheese – the CVMHA Atom team sponsored by Natural Pastures Cheese – won gold at the Fuller Lake Winter Classic Hockey Tournament, held Dec. 27-28.
The Comox team had superb performances by all players throughout the tournament. Blue Cheese had two hardworking and balanced forward lines consisting of Jeremy Berrigan, Braxton Barr and Nolan Sutter, along with Rio Peaker, Ryan Scott and Ty Fisher.
The steady and solid defencemen were Liam Macnamee, Andrew Bremer, Nathan Berrigan and Zak Miller. Daniel Gilfillan was the
team's goalie for all the games and recorded his first shutout during the tournament.
The round robin results were 8-0, 12-5, 2-1 and 7-4 to get the
Comox team into the final game late Sunday night with a team from Kerry Park.
The gold medal game saw each goalie tested early during the first period as the teams got their legs going. Peaker opened the scoring with 4:27 left in the first on assist from Scott. The Comox team held on to a one-goal lead through two exciting periods of hockey again with each goalie making some great saves.
Kerry Park tied the game with 15:10 left in the third then took the lead on a breakaway goal with 5:15 left. The Blue Cheese players did not get down, they dug deep and kept up the pressure and tied it up just over a minute later, with a goal from Scott assisted by linemates Peaker and Fisher.
It was off to a three-man shootout to decide the outcome. Jeremy Berrigan scored for Comox and Kerry Park tallied to tie it up after the first three shooters. It was now off to sudden death. Hockey moms and dads were on the edge of their seats as the cheering and noise mounted with each opportunity for a goal or crucial save. Gilfillan made another two outstanding stops to give his team the opportunity to win. In the fifth round, Nathan Berrigan skated down faked right, deked left and put a shot in just over the pads of the excellent Kerry Park goaltender to seal the victory for the gold medal.
Thanks go to the enthusiastic, positive, dedicated coaches – Ken Berrigan, Paul Sutter, Bruce Peaker and Mike McNamee for their leadership – as well as team managers Cheryl Scott and Joelle Barr.
– Blue Cheese Atoms