It was just like old times for Aldergrove Bruins goalie Dawson Calfa when he threw off his gloves dropped his stick and joined the dogpile of players celebrating their provincial championship Thursday night at Kin 1.
On the same piece of ground, playing Canada's other national sport, representing a different city, Calfa felt that same excitement nearly nine years ago.
On Thursday, the 16-year-old Bruins goalie made 26 saves in a 5-2 win over the Vernon Vipers which gave Aldergrove the midget Tier 2 hockey provincial title. They went undefeated in five games.
"Winning provincials here is unbelievable," said Calfa. "This is amazing, words don't describe it. I was lucky enough to have a good team that backed me up.
"I won in lacrosse the last time I played for Prince George."
In the summer of 2009, the year Calfa moved to Langley with his family, a nine-year-old Dawson teamed up with his 12-year-old brother Daylen on the Prince George Posse lacrosse team which won the peewee A2 provincial championship at Kin 1.
Whether it's hockey or lacrosse, winning never gets old for Dawson, and the Bruins' celebration Thursday night was shared by his father Carlo, the Bruins head coach, who has a long history of bringing out the best in Prince George athletes.
"Dawson was here last summer for lacrosse provincials and they ended up third and he said, 'Dad, it would be kind of cool if we could end up winning another provincials in this rink,' and this was nice," said Carlo.
"He was so excited to come back and he was really nervous to start the game (Thursday). But after a couple goals he settled down and he was pretty calm in there. He wanted to win."
Carlo said he could not be more proud of his players and how they handled themselves throughout the tournament.
"I've coached for 30-plus years in hockey and honestly this is probably the best hockey team I've coached, these guys were wonderful and it was fun to see my son in net," said Carlo. "I had a bit of a tear in my eye. It was pretty cool. He played well and the whole team played well. We have 19 guys in this team and everybody did the job that they needed to do to win a provincial championship.
"I love coming to Prince George, it's my hometown and I love these guys coming up here to show we have a really good hockey team."
The Vipers took a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals from Carl Main and Dylan Sedlurek, but before the end of the period, Bruins captain Tanner Myer and Josh Boelema had each found the net to tie it up.
Calfa, who won a midget provincial lacrosse bronze medal last year in Prince George playing for the Langley Thunder, was flawless the rest of the game, blocking seven shots in the second period and 14 in the third. The Bruins outshot the Vipers 35-28 in the game.
"Vernon was really good," he said. "They came out firing and scored two quick ones on us and we came back and scored five. Something clicked and we got two quick ones and after that it was our game. The chemistry between all of us, the players, the coaches, the trainers, is amazing, We just seem to click."
Dawsen Stone gave Aldergrove the lead 8:49 into the middle frame and Ryan Bencze also scored in the period. Myer capped the scoring into an empty net late in the third period.
Carlo started the Calfa tradition of winning provincial championships in 1981 when he helped his Prince George Toyota hockey team win midget triple-A provincial title in Kitimat, then represented the West at the Air Canada Cup national championship tournament in Halifax.
In 1999, Dawson's brother Damon, now 26, brought provincial roller hockey and lacrosse championships back to Prince George. In 2002, Dawson's oldest brother Darnell, now 29, won the provincial triple-A hockey championship with Carlo as head coach.
Dawson is the youngest of six kids in the family and had his mom Dawn, sisters Danielle and Dinae, and brothers Daylen and Damon watching from the stands at Kin 1. Darnell was unable to make it to Thursday's game.
Dawn is from Vanderhoof, where her father Bob Milligan still lives. She said was on edge the whole game, watching her youngest boy on top of his game winning another provincial gold medal.
"It was very hard on the nerves when Vernon was up by two goals and then they came back and it was tied and the rest of the game was pretty intense," said Dawn. "It's a real small community in Aldergrove and so everyone knows each other. It's a lot like P.G. and it really brings home how much we miss being here.
"It's so nice to come back here and doubly nice when the kids do well. The Prince George (tournament) committee did a fabulous job, this was easily one of the better-run provincials I've ever been to, there were no glitches."
