The Hazelton midgets got a taste of what's in store next season for B.C. Hockey League opponents of the Prince George Spruce Kings.
Tied 3-3 with the LTN Contracting Falcons heading into the third period of Sunday's midget division final at the Prince George Aboriginal Youth hockey tournament, it was only a matter of time before the boys from Hazleton started to bend under the collective pressure of Brogan O'Brien, Austin Gray and Bryan Allbee.
The smooth-skating Allbee, fresh from a full season with the major midget Cariboo Cougars, effectively fortified the Falcons' defence, and that freed up the freewheeling talents of forwards Gray, who played this past season for the Coast Inn midget Tier 1 Cougars, and O'Brien, who just completed his rookie season playing for the junior A Spruce Kings. Together, they triggered a six-goal outburst in the third period that led to a 9-4 win at Kin 1.
"I think they got tired, they were just rolling two lines and we had three lines," said Falcons coach Randy Potskin, who expects to see O'Brien, Gray and Allbee suiting up for the Spruce Kings next season.
Gray scored three goals and added two assists, while O'Brien finished with a goal and three assists. The Falcons also got offensive support from George Morin, with two goals, while Nicholas Potskin, Liam Loring and Allbee each fired singles. Justin Bond led Hazelton with a pair of goals.
Coach Potskin said while his team thrived on the strength of its rep team players, the contributions of house league players Liam Loring and Justin Pius, as well as Jared Tom, who didn't play organized hockey this season, helped the Falcons go undefeated in four weekend games.
Gray, Morin, Nicholas Potskin, Tyson Ghostkeeper, and goalie Trent Seymour plan to travel to 100 Mile House next weekend for Aboriginal Team B.C. tryouts. The B.C. team will compete in the national Aboriginal championships in Kahnawake, Que., April 28 - May 3.
In the bantam final, the Prince George Rebels got pushed right to the end, but hung on to beat the Bounty Hunters of Prince Rupert 3-2 in Sunday's final. Defenceman Mateo Albinati scored the winner in the third period, after Devin Sutton and Darian Long had given the Rebels a 2-1 lead. The Bounty Hunters made it close, scoring with 25 seconds left, but were unable to get the equalizer past goalie Mathew Ens.
"It got kind of chippy at the end and they got a quick one and it went 5-on-4 and we killed it off," said Albinati. "We controlled the pace for most of it, we just had that little scare at the end."
Six of the Rebels -- Albinati, Long, Ens, Jeremy Gervais and the Sutton twins, Devin and Jarin -- played Tier 1 bantam for the Farr Fabricating Cougars, who hosted the provincial tournament last week. They'll be in action again this weekend in Vanderhoof for Team North at the B.C. Best Ever under-16 team tryouts. Team North will play in the four-team B.C. Cup in Salmon Arm, April 17-20.
Albinati said the Rebels were tested severely in their first game Friday against Buckley House, a team of mostly rep team players. The Rebels won that game 7-6 in a shootout.
The Prince George Sharks topped Williams Lake 6-2 in Sunday's peewee division final.
In the atom final, the Buckley House Bears went home with a 6-1 win over the Prince George Warriors. Brody Johnston, Ethan Ferguson and Tye Peters each picked up two goals. Tyrell Willier scored for the Warriors with four minutes left in Sunday's final, the only goal Bears goalie Charlie Geernaert of Fort St. James allowed in four tournament games.
