The New Westminster Royals C1 hockey team won the Wee Winter Classic held in Kamloops last weekend. Playing in a 12- team tournament as the only lower mainland representative, Coach Bob Turnbull's 11- and 12-year-old boys went undefeated in an intense five games in two days to claim the championship trophy.
The Royals claimed the gold medal following a 4-1 victory over the Kelowna Predators in the tournament final.
With Troy Tucsok tripped on a breakaway, New West made Kelowna pay on the ensuing power play as Jacob Bins scored the opening goal with assists to Ethan Donnelly and Tucsok. Tucsok made it 2-0 scoring with assists from linemate and team captain Alex Lazecki and defenseman Sean Bocirnea.
Binns scored his second of the game from Tucsok, but Kelowna came back with a goal to close the gap to 3-1 in third period. Game MVP Binns finished off his hat trick with an empty-net goal from Lazecki and Bocirnea to seal the deal for New Westminster.
The team finished with a record of four wins and a tie, with 23 goals for and only eight against. Tucsok was the tournament scoring leader with 13 points, followed by Lazecki with 10.
Goalies Mathew Forero and Thai Tran were stellar and led the tournament with a combined 1.60 goals against average. Assistant coaches were Duane Searle and D'Arcy Smith.
The Royals advanced to the final with a 5-0 victory over the Vernon Flames.
Lazecki scored what proved to be the winner only a minute into the game, finishing off a breakaway set up by Tucsok and Jacob Hamm.
The team poured it on after that, with single markers coming from Josh Cruz, Will Turnbull (on a penalty shot), Binns and Zack Hayes. Other assists went to Ashlen Rutherford, Bocirnea, Mathew McKenzie and Jonas Poulsen. Royals game MVP was Nicholas Hagan.
New West started off the tournament with a Friday night tilt against the Kelowna Avalanche. The two teams played to an exciting 5-5 draw.
The Royals came back from a 3-1 and 4-2 deficit to take a late lead on a goal Lazecki. However, the lead was short-lived and the game ended deadlocked. Other scorers for the Royals were game MVP Tucsok, with two, Hamm with one and Binns on a penalty shot. Assists went to Lazecki with two, Tucsok, Hamm, Bocirnea and Hayes.
Game two saw a more dominant effort from the Royals as they blasted the local Kamloops Avalanche, 7-1.
Tucsok led the goal scoring with a hat trick, with support from Rutherford with a pair, along with Turnbull and Cruz with one each. Helpers went to Lazecki, Gabe Searle, Turnbull and Cruz with a pair each, as well as Nicholas Lovell and Tucsok. Goalie Thai Tran was game MVP for New West.
Game three was another hard fought affair, with the Royals prevailing 3-1 over the Kamloops Mini-Blazers. Tucsok led the way with two goals, along with a spectacular goal from Noel Wong. Assists went to Lazecki, Turnbull and Hagen. Goalie Mathew Forero was the game MVP for the Royals.
