New Westminster fashioned a perfect end to the B.C. Hockey midget Tier 2 provincial hockey championships in Trail on Wednesday.
The Royals defeated Greater Trail 5-2 in the championship final to claim the gold medal over the tournament hosts.
New West opened the scoring five minutes into the first period and added a second goal midway through the period, before Trail answered with 1.5 minutes left in the frame.
The teams exchanged goals in the first half of the second period, then New Westminster finished the scoring with two more later in the period.
Miller Cressman, Jordan Smith, Benjamin Manville (1G, 1A), Ryan Heaven, and Taylor Seganfreddo (1G, 1A) all tallied for the B.C. champs.
Assists also went to Garrett Hoffard (2A) and Joshua Lauener.
The Royals earned a spot in the final following arguably the team’s most difficult game – a 5-4 double-overtime win over North Delta earlier in the day.
North Delta got off to a quick start with two goals in the first few minutes of the game. New Westminster scored at 12:48, and North Delta scored again a minute later to finish the first period scoring.
The teams exchanged goals in the middle period. New Westminster then scored early in the third – and with less than a minute left in the period – tied the contest at four.
There was no scoring in the first overtime. Jordan Smith of New Westminster scored the game winner at 3:12 of the second OT to advance to the championship game.
Scoring for New West were Heaven, Ryan Spencer, Philip Tashin (2G) and Smith. Assists went to Hoffard, Cooper Birks, Ryan Wilkinson, Chase Manderville and Seganfreddo.
New Westminster opened the provincials with a 7-4 win over Cranbrook. The Royal City club scored three unanswered goals in the first period.
Both teams scored twice in the second and twice more in the third, with New Westminster's last goal being an empty-netter.
New Westminster got goals from Chase Manderville, Samuel Stevens (1G, 1A), Cressman, Seganfreddo (2G, 1A), Hoffard (1G, 1A) Raihan Kheraj, with assists also going to Lauener, Imran Kheraj, Wilkinson (2A), Tashin, and Spencer.
On March 16, New West defeated Castlegar 9-1.
New Westminster and Castlegar traded goals in the first half of the first period, before the Royals finished off the period scoring three more unanswered goals.
New Westminster continued with one goal in the second period and four more in the third. Scoring for New Westminster were Heaven (2G, 2A), Wilkinson (1G 1A), Lauener (3G), Chase Manderville (2G), with assists from Birks, Tashin, Hoffard (3A), Cressman, Stevens and Seganfreddo.
New West tripled Smithers 6-2 on St. Patrick’s Day.
New Westminster got off to a quick start with four unanswered goals in the first period. Smithers came back with two in the second, while New West scored one more in the second and one in the third. Scoring for New Westminster were Lauener (3G, 1A), Wilkinson, Smith and Spencer (1G and 1A). Assists also went to Hoffard, Birks, Sean Davidson and Nathaniel Irving.
