They were raving about the Lumby Stars in Richmond.
The female U18 hockey squad won the 24th annual Richmond Ravens Ice Classic tournament, downing the Yukon Wild 6-1 in the championship game Sunday afternoon, March 20.
The goal by Yukon was the only one allowed by Lumby in its six weekend games.
In the five-team event, Lumby defeated the Wild, Ravens, Nanaimo Clippers and Vancouver Angels without allowing a goal to advance to the championship game.
The Stars started the tournament Friday afternoon beating host Richmond Ravens 4-0. Assistant captain and game MVP Paige Brayshaw opened the scoring halfway through the first followed by captain Jordyn Morris adding the next two goals and Brayshaw supplying the fourth.
The second game Friday evening was also a 4-0 win, this time against the Nanaimo Clippers. Shirelle Nicoli scored at 14:05 assisted by Brooklyn Walthers, then Brayshaw from Jordyn Pryor made it 2-0 a minute before Julia McLennan added the third goal assisted by Morris at the end of one period. Nickola Harper made it 4-0 halfway through the second period assisted by Morris to round out the game’s scoring. Careese Maske was game MVP.
The Stars played the Vancouver Angels Saturday afternoon, winning 5-0. McLennan opened the scoring at 12:35 from a feed from Brayshaw. Morris made it 2-0 from a beautiful series of passing from Nicoli and Walthers. Brayshaw got the next two goals, one to end the first period and the second at 8:21 of the second to make it 4-0 after 40 minutes.
Morris, on a beautiful breakout pass from assistant captain Walthers, scored the fifth and final goal of the game to head into their last round robin game Saturday night against the undefeated Yukon/ NWT Wild.
The Stars battled to a 2-0 win in a rough game in front of their netminder. Brayshaw scored halfway through the first before adding her second in the middle frame to finish the scoring for the game with goaltender Somer Snobelen getting the MVP honours.
The girls had to wait to see who they would face in the gold-medal game Sunday and the Yukon made it back for a rematch. The female Stars were ready for a gritty, fast-paced game. Reanne Mueller opened the scoring at 14:25 assisted by Morris for an exciting start of the scoring and igniting the bench.
Kiel Hayward got the second goal right before the end of the first on a pass by Morris to the point from Nickoli. The second period saw the Stars add a third goal by Morris who was on a mission playing in her last minor hockey game on a breakout from Pryor and Mclennan before the Yukon got on the scoreboard 20 seconds later and breaking the Stars’ shutout weekend.
That didn’t stop the Stars as Morris added her second and fourth point of the game with 28 seconds left in the second to go up 4-1. Lumby added two more in the third, Brayshaw with 1:26 left assisted by Muller and Nickoli, and then Brayshaw again with only 13 seconds left from Morris for her fifth point of the championship game.
The Richmond Ravens Ice Classic hosted 64 female teams from B.C., Alberta, Yukon / NWT and Washington as well as having more than 40 female ice officials to ref all games; it was truly a showcase of all female hockey.
The Stars finished their year 15-1 in the regular season to win the Okanagan Mainline banner, added the playoff banner by going 5-0 in the Okanagan playoffs, went 5-0 in Richmond, and were 3-1-2 against Single A rep teams from Nelson and Kamloops for an overall record of 28-2-2.
KNIGHTS FALL IN DISTRICT FINAL
The North Okanagan Knights couldn’t hold a third-period lead and fell 4-2 to the Clearwater Icehawks in the final of the Okanagan Mainline Amateur Hockey Association’s U15 Recreation District playoffs in Lillooet.
The Knights had been undefeated heading into the final, having knocked off Lillooet 5-1, the Kelowna Rockets 3-2 and the Vernon Everton Ridge Homes Royals 3-2. North Okanagan advanced to the final with a 2-0 win over the Royals.
Dexter Derksen led the Knights with four points in the five games, two goals and two assists. Clay Reimer and Devin Bigsby each scored three goal, DJ Crowe chipped in a pair, and Lynden Cox and Liam Murray each contributed 1+2.
Sam Hwang had 1+1 Cash Riemersma and Desiree McCormack each scored once and Taydin Charbonneau chipped in two assists. Dominik Sulyok played all five games in goal for North Okanagan, posting a 4-1 record and a sparkling 1.80 goals against average.
The Royals went 1-3. They opened with a 1-0 win over South Okanagan with Isaac Brisco recording the shutout in goal before losing 4-2 to Clearwater and the back-to-back losses against North Okanagan.
Jayden Godsoe led the Vernon offence with two goals and an assist in their four games. Spencer Catlin, Nicholas Brandner and Joshua Van Calsteren had the other markers.
JUNIOR VIPERS VICTORIOUS
The Vernon U11 Boston Pizza Junior Vipers won the Okanagan Mainline Development C Playoffs.
The Junior Snakes captured the Adolphe Division’s OMAHA playoff pennant with a 6-4 win in the championship game over the West Kelowna Warriors at Kal Tire Place North Sunday, March 13.
Vernon went undefeated in its playoff run.
READ MORE: Cranbrook Bucks roll to 7-3 win over Vernon Vipers in Tier 2 U15 opener
READ MORE: UPDATE: West Kelowna Warriors thump Vernon Vipers in first-round playoff preview
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