Marty FlorisCoach of Vanderhoof Bantam Bears
The Vanderhoof Bantams finished off their season last week as tier 3 provincial champions.
The tournament started off with a 6-3 win over South Okanagan. A very gutsy effort by the Bears as they had not had any meaningful games for 3 weeks. The game started off sluggish and the boys got their legs under themselves and skated off with the win.
Their second game was a tough 4-3 loss to Whitehorse. A tough team and some great lessons learned as we would see them again.
The final round robin game saw the Bears playing a pesky team from Arbutus. Not their best effort, but the 9 all tie was enough to get us into the cross overs.
The semi finals on Wednesday saw us play the winner of the other pool, the North Shore Winter Club. The Bears fully dominated the game and were in total control and finished with a 6-2 win.
The finals saw a rematch with Whitehorse. While outshooting the team from Whitehorse, the Bears were down 2-0 going into the third. Goals by Booker Daniel at 7:04 and Simon Nemethy with 1:25 remaining pushed it to overtime. With 2:04 remaining in the first overtime period, Slade Desharnais jammed in the winner!
The Pee Wee Bears also won bronze at the tier 4 provincial tournament last week in Armstrong.