Last year at the female aboriginal national hockey championship in Mississauga, Ont., Camryn Scully and her B.C. teammates fell just short of the medal podium when they lost the bronze battle in overtime to Manitoba.
This year, Team B.C. would not be denied its chance to make history.
Scully, a 15-year-old forward from Prince George, scored 8:57 into the third overtime period to trigger the celebration, a 2-1 win over Alberta in the bronze-medal game Saturday in Duncan - the first-ever medal for B.C. at the female tournament.
"It was a pass out from the corner from Jordan McMillan and it was a scramble in front and I got my stick on it and put it in," said Scully, who played in her fourth aboriginal national hockey championship.
"We were getting tired but it was worth it. It was such a great experience and I couldn't have done it without my teammates. More than half the team has been together four years and some of them are in their last year (of eligibility) so it was good that we got them the bronze medal."
B.C. outshot Alberta 51-41. Jaydlin Spooner made 40 saves going the distance in net for B.C.
"She was really good, she stood on her head for us, she really helped us," said Scully.
Wynona Creyke, who played with Scully in the B.C. Female Midget Triple-A Hockey League for the Northern Capitals this season, tied the game 1-1, 1:43 into the third period. Broke Tipton scored in the second period for Alberta.
The B.C. team also included defencemen Sarah Jarvis of Quesnel and Malina Pillipow of Prince George, who both played for the Northern Capitals, as well as forward Tashaya Teschuk, who skated this season for the Prince George bantam rep team.
B.C. lost to Saskatchewan 4-3 in the semifinal round.
"That was a tough loss in the semis, we had a good start and were looking pretty good and unfortunately it didn't work out," said B.C. head coach Randy Potskin of Prince George. "We had 18 girls returning from last year so we expected a lot. Some of these girls have been with us four years so we were hoping for a gold-medal performance but unfortunately came up one game short."
Potskin had to leave the team on Friday to attend the club volleyball national championships in Calgary, where his daughter was playing, but he tuned in the internet webcasts from Duncan.
Manitoba blanked Saskatchewan 7-0 in the female gold-medal game.
Also on Saturday, the B.C. male team beat Saskatchewan 5-2 Saturday to claim bronze. Corey Cunningham of Prince George, who played this season for the Delta Hockey Academy Elite 15s, staked B.C. to a 2-0 lead in the first period and also picked up an assist to finish as the tournament scoring leader with 10 goals and 14 points in six games.
Daine DuBois of Quesnel, who joined the B.C. from the Cariboo Cougars major midget team right after the Telus Cup ended last weekend in Prince George, also scored in the bronze-medal game, while his Cougar teammate, defenceman Jeremy Gervais, had two assists. The team also included Cougar defenceman Joel Patsey and four other Prince George players - Jaden French, Ryan Mager, Kyle Boshier and Cody Bailey. Justin Fillion of Prince George was the assistant coach.
Manitoba defeated Ontario 6- in overtime to win gold in the male tournament.
