The penalty call was tough to swallow for the Kamloops bantam Blazers.
With less than a minute to play in the third period and the Blazers tied 4-4 with the Northwest Calgary Flames in Sunday's Crossroads Cup bantam Tier 1 tournament final, Blazers defenceman Brendan Kirschner was sent off for boarding when he collided with Flames defenceman Tyler Bates.
The Calgary power play was called into action and got it done. Tyson Gross spotted Flames right winger Owen Dean standing at the side of the net with his stick blade on the ice and hit the target for an easy tap-in with just 13.5 seconds left.
Blazers goalie Bailey Monteith slammed his stick against the Kin 1 boards in disgust, but there was nothing he could do to change the outcome. The Flames had the 10-team tournament title in the bag.
"It was awesome – Tyson Gross gave me a sweet backdoor pass and it was a moment of glory, I guess," said Dean. "We had two great two-goal comebacks, it was an awesome game."
Kamloops outplayed the Flames in the first period and built a 2-0 lead on goals from Jarrod Semchuk and Peyton Kelly, but the Flames countered with a couple of their own from Bates and Dean before the intermission. Spencer Vaughan (at even strength) and Kirschner (on a power play) boosted the Blazers to a 4-2 lead before the three-minute mark of the second period. They carried the play for a good chunk of the middle frame and came close to adding to their lead when Ashton Taylor just missed a wide-open net. But the Flames fought back.
Tyler Wallace dug the puck out to Joel Freer and Brayden Morrison connected on a similar behind-the-net feed from Graham Boone and the teams were tied again. Morrison, the 14-year-old son of former NHL winger Brendan, who collected 631 points in 15 seasons before he retired in 2012, has obviously inherited his dad's hockey instincts. He drew the second assist on Dean's tournament-winner.
"We have a pretty good power play going this year and we've been pretty good on it and we've scored lots of goals on it," said Morrison. "There was great competition here, we had great teams to play against and it was a battle the whole time and it was lots of fun."
Centring a line with Dean and Matthew Mazzoccchi, Morrison had a goal and two assists in the final and he also scored in the Flames' 3-1 semifinal win Sunday morning over Delta.
"He's been on the upswing the entire year and this weekend is a culmination of all that – I think he's better than his dad," laughed Flames head coach Sean Kibyuk. "We had a tough game this morning and obviously, playing on a bigger ice surface it took the boys time to get used to. The whole weekend was excellent, our boys played their butts off and really raised their game and we're pretty proud of them."
The Blazers held the edge in quality scoring chances in the third period but were their own worst enemies, missing shots from dangerous positions, and when they did get pucks on net, Connor Ungar was there to make the saves. Both goalies were kept busy. The Blazers outshot the Flames 34-31.
Blazers head coach Lyle Allan and the Blazer parents in the stands couldn't help but wonder what might have happened if the referee had let Kirschner's boarding call go unpunished.
"We can't argue, it's a penalty, but similar plays like that were happening all game and they weren't being called and to have it in the last 50 seconds..., it's tough," said Allan. "We outchanced them in the whole game but they just had a little more finish around the net than we did. It was anybody's game."
