By Michael Yahn /
The association had a very strong and extremely busy December squeezing in games and tournaments before the Olympic break. Several teams won tournaments last month and there are plenty of teams that have already wrapped up league banners with several more looking to do the same as they prepare for playoffs.
Atom
The Langley AAA Atom Eagles had a stellar December winning tournaments in both Las Vegas and Abbotsford and ended the regular season with the league banner for Tier 1.
The Las Vegas Silver Stick Tournament was fun for all involved and featured some great games. The Eagles were flat out of the gate with an opening loss 3-0 to the Phoenix Junior Coyotes but bounced back with a 3-2 win over rival North Shore Winter Club and a rout of the host Las Vegas team, 17-0. They played the Junior Coyotes again in the final, winning another 3-0 game to take the gold.
At the Abbotsford Christmas Tournament, they once again started slow with a tough 1-0 loss to the host team and a 3-0 setback to Burnaby Winter Club. They ended the round robin with an 11-0 win over Cowican Valley and a 1-1 tie with Ridge Meadows. As the last seed in the quarterfinals, they faced a tough Seafair team and won 4-3 in overtime and disposed of Semiahmoo 5-2 in the semis. They then roared past Burnaby 4-2 to win the finals on a day they played all three playoff games.
The Eagles finished league play at 16-1-1 to take the banner. They outscored their opponents 80-27 and are rolling along heading into playoffs.
The Atom A3 Eagles took on a challenge at the Abbotsford Christmas Tournament by moving up to Tier 2 just for the tournament and benefited from the opportunity. They finished with two wins and two losses in round robin and lost in the quarterfinals.
“Playing against the faster teams was a great challenge for all the players and we are proud of the kids in the way they all responded and played hard,” said Peter Dalgleish. “It made us a better team in the end which is what we were looking for.”
The team finished off their regular season in second place with a strong effort all year. “As coaches, we are very happy with the way each player has developed their own skills as well as embracing the team-first attitude this year during the regular season,” added Dalgleish. “Now, with playoffs coming, it is like a new season all over again so the hard work continues—but most importantly, so does the fun every time we step on the ice as a team which is what it is all about.”
Peewee
The Peewee A3 Eagles exacted revenge on Abbotsford at the 51st Annual Chilliwack Christmas Tournament winning 6-2 in the final against the team that beat them in the final game of the Salmon Arm Tournament 2-1 earlier this year. In what Coach Kevin Qualtrough described as one of the best games of the year, the game was 2-1 near the end of the second when the Eagles scored five unanswered to take over the game.
“All of the boys really stepped up during this tournament and did their part,” said Qualtrough.?“We had great contributions from everyone; including great goaltending, strong defence and a really aggressive attack from the forwards.”
The Peewee A3s finished in sixth place with an 8-9-1 record. The A2 Eagles finished in eighth at 7-10-1 as the playoff rounds are set to start for both teams’ flights.
Bantam
The Langley A2 Eagles broke their slide of two straight second place tournament finishes when they brought home the hardware at the 13th Annual Peninsula Bantam Eagle Cup. They mowed down the competition beating Nanaimo A2 10-0, Comox A1 6-1, Campbell River A1 8-1 and host Peninsula A1 8-1 in the round robin and continued their undefeated streak with a big semi-final win over league rivals the PoCo Pirates 4-2 with Ryan Remsby and Jordan Gracie scoring two each.
“The Island teams all play two-hour ice slots throughout their season so our coaches credit the excellent dryland the team has been doing with Mike Thompson for allowing them to still come out hard in the third period of the longer games,” said coach Rick Dolman, talking about the first three wins.
In the final, the boys faced the Powell River A1 Kings and shot-out to a 3-0 lead on goals by Remsby, Shayne McCabe and Mitch Dolman. The Kings came back with two powerplay goals but another marker by Dolman and an empty-netter by Brandon Inwood sealed the 5-2 win. Game MVPs through the tournament went to Inwood, Rylan Hunt, Dolman, Rensby and Nate Hardy respectively and Dolman was named defensive player of the game in the finals. The goalie tandem of Graeme Lea and Kurt Klimek allowed only seven goals over the six games between them.
Midget
The Langley Midget C LY6 Slay’ems started their tournament year by dominating a Seattle tournament through the round robin and Semi-Finals only to come up against a hungrier, harder working team from Abbotsford in the Finals where they were beaten handily. They went into their own ten-team Midget Christmas tournament determined to not be outworked, outhustled or outscored.
“We had some real success early in the season, when everyone came to the rink prepared to work their butts off to be successful,” said Coach Al Anderson. “After a while, our guys just thought that they could turn it on when they needed to and they would win. Turns out they were wrong. After Seattle you could tell they were unhappy with their work ethic and commitment to each other.”
The local team started their quest for the championship with a convincing shutout win over Surrey 6-0 in a game that they dominated all over the ice. The next game, they met Ridge Meadows and prevailed 5-2 in a game that was much closer than the score indicated. The final two games of the round robin were close games with the Langley boys winning 4-3 and 5-3 to put themselves at the top of their division heading into the semifinal against the second place team from the other side of
the bracket.
The team was matched against a fellow Langley team and was ready for their usual close game, but the Slay’ems jumped out to an early lead and did not look back in winning the semi-final convincingly. That set up a finals showdown the Surrey that was dominated by Langley as they took the game and the tournament with an 8-2 victory. Danny Grange, Stephen Blackall and the goaltending tandem of Shane Carey and Tyler Williams had an outstanding tournament. The two goaltenders backstopped the team the entire tournament with the Slay’ems outscoring their opponents 37-10 over the six games.
“Once these boys recognized that hard work every shift coupled with talent and perseverance can take you a long way, they were unstoppable,” said assistant Coach Brian Carey.
Juvenile
The Juvenile AAA Eagles are in a dogfight with Ridge Meadows and Cloverdale for first place nearing the end of the regular season.
After eighteen games, the Eagles are 12-5-1 and have 38 points and are just two points behind the 9-2-7 Ridge Meadows team and two points up on Cloverdale who has one game
in hand.
They broke a five-game win streak that included two wins against Cloverdale, when they lost 5-3 recently to fifth place North Delta. |