The Burnaby Winter Club will be vying for a Western Canadian bantam AAA double following a 6-5 victory over the Cloverdale Colts in the final at the B.C. Tier 1 provincial championships in Kamloops on Thursday.
The regular season champion winter club Bruins allowed the Colts to claw back leads of 3-0 and 5-3 before star firstround draft pick Matthew Barzal tallied the game-winner.
The victory followed an earlier 5-3 loss to Cloverdale in round-robin play at the provincials.
The Colts, runner-up finishers to the Bruins in the Tier 1 regular season, defeated the winter club 6-2 in the earlier Pacific Coast playoff final. Cloverdale also beat Burnaby 3-1 before going on to win the John Reid memorial AAA tournament in St. Albert, Alta. in January.
"It doesn't really matter, those other ones (losses)," said Burnaby Winter Club head coach John Batchelor. "It's the one at the end that matters."
Burnaby opened the provincials with a 4-1 win over Kamloops on March 19. The Bruins then blanked the Victoria Racquet Club 4-0 and Prince George 9-0 on the Tuesday before the setback against Cloverdale in the six-team tourney.
"Was I ever worried? Never. I know we're good, - and if we can stay out of the penalty box, we can play with anyone. At five-on-five, we are good," Batchelor said.
The veteran winter club coach threw a wrinkle in the championship final, taking Ty Ronning off the Barzal line and moving him alongside Adam Musil, giving the Bruins an effective one-two punch that the Colts ultimately could not match up with.
"The kids have a real good chance of hanging two banners back-to-back and that's our focus," Batchelor added.
Last season, the winter club won its third Western banner, beating Winnipeg 3-2 in overtime.
Burnaby Winter Club teams also won western banners in 2002 and 2007.
The Western Canadian championships take place in Spruce Grove/Stony Plain, Alta. from April 5 to 8.
A2'S WIN SILVER
The Burnaby Winter Club Tier 2 team settled for silver medal following a 2-1 overtime loss to Campbell River in the championship final in Trail on March 21.
Josh Coblenz scored the game-winner just 33 seconds into the extra time. Burnaby's Alex Rasovic opened the scoring for the A2 Bruins.
Earlier, Burnaby edged Campbell River 3-2 in provincial pool play on goals by Jake Kryski, Andreas Siagris and Carmine Buono.
Burnaby advanced to the final with a 3-1 win over host Rossland/Trail. Liam Griffin, Kennessary Kylyshbek, and Siagris scored for the winners, while Sheldon Stanley backstopped the win.
The winter club finished with a 3-2 record at the provincials. The Bruins also lost a 5-3 decision to Westside.
LAST GAME A WINNER
Host Burnaby Winter Club saved its best for last at the provincial Tier 3 championships last week.
The Burnaby club scored its one and only win - a 3-2 victory over Creston - in its final game of the 11-team competition.
The A3 Bruins lost their opening game 8-0 over the eventual champion team from Quesnel.
Quesnel beat Terrace 6-5 in the Tier 3 championship final. Whistler took the bronze medal 7-5 over Powell River.
