The Christmas season always brings hockey teams to town for tournaments.聽
This past week, local tournament volunteers were a little busier than usual because they had to hold back-to-back tournaments.
The 12-team peewee event featured visiting teams from Surrey, Seattle, Vancouver, Langley, the Sunshine Coast, White Rock, Abbotsford and the North Shore.
It started Friday with Squamish鈥檚 Eagles in tough against a bigger Seattle team. They were in equally deep against one of the visiting Vancouver sides as well on the Saturday morning.
After the opening round, the teams were reseeded into the gold, silver and bronze brackets, with 麻豆社国产facing off against Whistler Sunday afternoon.聽
The game proved tighter and more competitive than Squamish鈥檚 first two games, but in the end the locals could not beat their northern Sea to Sky rivals, losing 3-0.
Overall, tournament coordinator Dave Knight was pleased with the weekend event.
鈥淓verything went really well. All the teams were well behaved, no problems,鈥� he said.
He did face one wrinkle when it came time for the last day鈥檚 games on Monday.聽
The 麻豆社国产team had been slated to play the Sunshine Coast in the first game of the day, set for 7 a.m., but the visitors were not able to make game time because they could not get an early enough ferry. Unlike Vancouver Island teams, which stay overnight for games, Knight said the Sunshine Coast team was going home each night and returning to play the next day. He said he had faced lots of situations over the years, but admits the Sunshine Coast situation was a first
鈥淚鈥檝e never had it before to count on a ferry,鈥� he said.
As a result, the 麻豆社国产team ended up with some time for scrimmaging before receiving their tournament medals.
In the various finals on Monday, Whistler beat North Shore Winter Club 3-2 in the bronze bracket, Vancouver鈥檚 Vikings beat Langley鈥檚 Legends 7-3 in the silver. In the gold鈥檚 third-place game Seattle beat Semiahmoo 4-1.
The peewees wound up Monday afternoon with the gold final. As in the silver final, it was a Langley team, the Bardownskis, facing off a Vancouver team, the Flying Dutchmen, but this time the valley team got the best of the city rivals.
Langley scored early and often, jumping out to a quick lead and never looking back in what ended in an 11-0 statement win to capture the tournament trophy.
Knight and his team of tournament volunteers had little time to rest though. With the Zamboni鈥檚 sweep of the ice and some time for volunteers to set up dividing boards, Brennan Park was ready for the puck to drop on the H3 and H4 tournaments for younger players.聽
Ten teams, including one from Squamish, were taking part in the H4 tournament, and seven, including two local teams, were in the H3 event. Most of the visiting teams came from the Lower Mainland.聽
Results for the H3 and H4 games were not available by press deadline.聽
