In the season where it’s better to give than receive, the New Westminster midget A Royals made out like Grinches.
The hockey squad captured back-to-back tourney titles, facing off against larger associations en route to the hardware at the Richmond International and Coquitlam New Year’s tournaments.
Competing in the popular, 73-team Richmond midget-bantam event, New West rolled undefeated through six games to claim the Tier 3 title, edging Peninsula 2-1 in the final.
Josh Domingues and Brennan Ryan supplied the goals, while netminder Matthew Forero stopped all but one shot.
The team’s run saw them outscore the opposition 32-8, with Ash Rutherford tallying seven times and Domingues six during the run. Sukhdeep Sumra chipped in a pair of goals and five helpers. Both Daniel Jacinto and Forero would register a shutout.
The defence was a major reason the team kept the opposition in check during the five-day series.
Just a few days later, New West jumped back into the fray and launched their run at the Coquitlam tourney.
They started off by racking up a 5-4 win over Sooke, and followed with wins over North Van, Langley and West Van to draw into the semifinal against Cowichan Valley.
Forero backstopped the team through some tense moments in a 2-2 game that went to a shootout. With their netminder stopping three straight shots, the Royals advanced on Noel Wong’s goal.
The final pitted New West against Sooke, and the rematch proved to be just as hard-fought as their previous encounter. Wong gave the Royals a 1-0 lead, and Liam Bates locked it up by cashing in a breakaway with two minutes left to play to seal a 2-0 win and the tournament title.
As well-rounded an effort as it was, the win at the Coquitlam tourney was aided by a couple of key call-ups, bantam centre Ben Nottingham, defenceman Logan Earle, Teo Petkovic and Olexander Slupskyy.
