The Comox Valley's Atom Slegg Lumber Blue Thunder took top spot at an Atom hockey tournament Jan. 4-5 in Powell River.
They won their first game 6-3 with goals from Luc Pelletier (2), Craig Scott (2) and Trent Wilson (2).
Their second game was a little more challenging, coming back from being down 3-0, with help from scorers Kye Kotapski-Tinga (2), Trent Wilson (1), Brady Henry (1) assisted by Jordan Hesselink, Graeme Gillard (1), and Luc Pelletier (1) again assisted by Jordan, they won 6-3.
Their third game on Saturday saw them light up the scoreboard with Kye (3) Craig (2), Trent (2),Luc (1), Graeme (1) and Erik Long (1) all ripping the twine.
Our defensive pairs of Kirk Wilson, Zack Taylor and Jack Klobchar and Erik Long played a great defensive game and our goalie Jayden Holmes had denied the Sunshine Coast on their many attempts en route to the shutout.
Slegg Lumber's fourth game on Sunday morning presented their biggest challenge. They played hard and the final score was 3-3 with goals from Graeme, Trent and Kye.
This put the Blue Thunder in first place and on their way to the gold medal game against hometown favourites Powell River Aero.
During the first period, there was lots of back and forth, great shots by both teams and big saves by Jayden. Our defensive pairs, Kirk, Zack and Jack and Erik again
kept the puck out of our end and net. Eight minutes in, Kye took the puck down the right side unassisted to score the first goal.
Four minutes later, Trent went end to end, top shelf, and sent the water bottle flying to make it 2-0. There were three more attempts on goal but the Powell River goalie shut us down.
Our defensive pairs kept up the pressure and didn't allow many shots on net. With 1:30 left in the period, Kye moved in with a wrist shot from the point, big rebound,
Jordan is there to take a shot...big scramble...Brady scores...it's 3-0. Shots at the end of the second period were 9-7 in favour of the Thunder.
Thirty seconds into the third period, pressure is on again and finally Powell River scores. Lots of back and forth until Graeme takes the puck down with eight minutes left, he shoots and scores for a 4-1 lead.
Minutes later, Ashton Henry gave a nice hit with an apologetic sorry, I didn`t mean to do that to a Powell River player.
Finally after 13 minutes and Erik Long having been crushed by big hits for the third time by Powell River #8 does Powell River get a penalty and we`re on the power play.
Powell River is really hungry but with them being short handed and our outstanding defensive pressure they can't get near our goal.
With 3:30 left, Trent one-times a nice pass from Chris Dumuylder to make the final 5-1.
Our coaches said it best: they wished they had 14 digger awards for that last game, because all the kids played great hockey!
The team thanks Slegg Lumber for their ongoing support of minor hockey in the Valley.
Thanks to the fans who came out to cheer on the team and a big thank you to our coaches, team and leaque officials who make it possible for the kids to play this game that we all love.
– Slegg Lumber Blue Thunder