With the game of his life, Brandon Peacock stopped the Freightliner Cougars' drive for gold.
Peacock, a goaltender for the Quesnel Thunder, blocked all 56 shots that were fired at him during the championship game of the Scotiabank peewee Tier 3 minor hockey tournament, which ended last Sunday at the Kin Centre. His masterful performance, combined with some opportunistic goals by his teammates, gave the Thunder a 3-0 victory against the Cougars.
Quesnel managed 13 shots on Freightliner goalie Alex Schinkel but got a pair of goals from Brett Mero and an empty-netter by Christopher Thon. Mero was chosen as the game's most valuable player for the Thunder and Brendan Mosely earned that honour for the Cats.
The Cougars, a peewee Tier 2 club, finished the tournament with just the one loss in five games. In their other outings, they beat the Thunder 3-2, downed the Scotiabank Tier 3 Cougars 8-4, dumped the Williams Lake Timberwolves 8-0 and then beat the T-wolves again in a playoff semifinal, 6-2.
The Scotiabank Cats, meanwhile, settled for fourth place after a 4-2 loss to Williams Lake in the bronze-medal game. Missed opportunities and penalties were the downfall of the Cougars, who got their goals from Hayden Kerr and Elijah Goyer. Kerr was handed the game MVP award for the Cats, while Jimi Belleau -- who scored twice for the Timberwolves -- was his team's MVP.
In their tournament-opener, the Tier 3 Cougars battled the Timberwolves to a 5-5 tie. Next came the 8-4 loss to Freightliner and an impressive 4-1 win against the Thunder. The Cats and Quesnel met again in the playoff semifinal round and the Thunder prevailed 5-0. In that game, Peacock -- with 42 saves -- was also the difference-maker.
Fortwood Cats on home ice
The Fortwood Homes peewee Tier 4 Cougars are hosting an eight-team tournament that starts today at the Kin Centre.
The Cougars will play their first game at 11:45 a.m. in Kin 2 against Quesnel. Later, at 4:15 p.m., the Cats will take on Fort St. James. Their final round-robin game is scheduled for Saturday at 7:45 a.m. against Mackenzie.
Other teams in the tournament are Fraser Lake, Burns Lake, Houston and Chetwynd. Semifinal games will be played on Saturday (4:45 p.m. and 5 p.m.). Semifinal winners will face off for gold at 9:45 a.m. on Sunday.
