The New Westminster C1 Royals emerged as the winners of the annual Al Hughes peewee hockey tournament that finished last Tuesday evening.
The five-day, eight-team tournament was played at Queen's and Moody Park arenas. The C1 Royals blitzed Cloverdale C5 Colts 11-0 in the gold-medal final, while earlier in the day, the New Westminster C3 team captured the bronze medal, hammering Cloverdale C1 by a score of 9-3.
The C1 Royals got off to a fast start in the tournament, whipping Cloverdale C5 Colts 7-1 in the opener, with game MVP going to defenseman Noel Wong. Goals for the Royals were provided by Jacob Binns with a hat trick. Singles went to Josh Cruz, Ashlen Rutherford, Alex Lazecki and Noel Wong. Will Turnbull had three assists in the game.
Next up was a game with the Abbotsford C5 Chiefs, with the Royals prevailing 10-4. Jonas Poulson had a big game with three goals, while Sean Bocirnea, Will Turnbull and game MVP Josh Cruz each had a pair. Troy Tucsok added a single, with multi-assists going to Noel Wong, Alex Lazecki, Jacob Hamm and Will Turnbull. Nicholas Lovell also added an assist.
The Royals won their third straight game, deposing Hope C1, 5-0. Royals goaltenders Mathew Forero and Thai Tran shared the shutout, with support from single goals by Nicholas Hagan, Sean Bocirnea, Jonas Poulson, Noel Wong and Alex Lazecki. Forero also earned an assist on Wong's goal. Game MVP went to Jonas Poulson.
Friendly rival New Westminster C2 upset the C3 Royals 6-3 behind some solid goaltending and solid team play. C2 MVP was Mason Seganfredo and C3 MVP was Alex Lazecki. Royals goals came from Lazecki, Josh Cruz and Zack Hayes.
In the semi-final, the Royals were up against Cloverdale C1, and they shut them out, 6-0. Again goaltenders Forero and Tran shared the shutout, thanks in large part to an excellent job from the Royals defence, which allowed only 10 shots during the game. Stalwart defenseman Nicholas Hagan earned his team's game MVP honours, while goals came from Troy Tucsok, Jacob Binns, Ashlen Rutherford, Alex Lazecki with a pair from Noel Wong. Will Turnbull added a pair of assists for the Royals, while Gabe Searle added a big power-play assist on Tucsok's first goal.
The gold-medal game turned out to be one-sided from the get-go. After eliminating New Westminster C3 in the other semi-final, Cloverdale had no answer for the speedy C1 Royals. Alex Lazecki scored what turned out to be the winner mid-way through the first period on a rising backhander from the left faceoff circle. Before the period ended, Jacob Binns and Ashlen Rutherford had added to the lead to make it 3-0. Game MVP Troy Tucsok added two of his three goals in the second period, while Mathew McKenzie added his first of two on the night. By the third period the game was put out of reach after a pair of goals from Noel Wong, Troy Tucsok, McKenzie and Jonas Poulson made it 11-0. Alex Lazecki had three assists as did Will Turnbull, while Troy Tucsok and Noel Wong also added a pair of helpers.
The C1 Royals finished tournament with a record of five wins and one loss, with three shutouts, 42 goals for and only 11 against. Coaches for the Royals were Bob Turnbull, Duane Searle and D'Arcy Smith.
