Six Kelowna Minor Hockey Association teams will represent the Thompson-Okanagan region at BC Hockey provincial championships during the Spring Break.
In a rare occurrence, the KMHA swept the peewee division in the Okanagan Mainline Amateur Hockey Association as the Peewee Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3 and Female A Rockets will be vying for the coveted BC Hockey provincial blue banner.
Joining the peewees at provincial tournaments will be the Kelowna Bantam A Female Rockets and the Bantam Tier 3 KMHA team.
In what was considered a foregone conclusion, the Kelowna Tier 1 Peewee Rockets won the OMAHA banner and will represent the association at the BC Hockey provincial championship later this week at the Lower Mainland.
Unbeaten in regular-season league play, the Rockets breezed to a 14-1 win over the Kamloops Blazers in the first game of the best-of-three OMAHA final series and wrapped it up by downing the visitors 5-1 at the Rutland Arena in the second game.
The series-deciding game saw the Blazers score the first goal and hold the Rockets to a 1-1 draw in the opening period, but the hosts broke loose for three unanswered goals in the second period and closed out with a single marker in the third.
Two goals by Lynden Lakovic led the Rockets while single tallies came from Jaxsin Vaughn, Ryder Ritchie and Christopher Kilduff.
The Rockets were coming off a season-highlight trip to Quebec City where they were one of only two B.C. teams at the 60th annual Quebec International Peewee Hockey Tournament.
The other B.C. team competing in the prestigious event was from Semiahmoo, the host for the 11-team provincial tier 1 championship March 17-21 and considered — along with the Rockets — as one of the favourites to claim a B.C. title, along with the North Shore Winter Club and the Burnaby Winter Club.
The Kelowna Tier 2 Peewee Rockets will take a 19-0 record in the Okanagan Mainline Amateur Hockey Association to the BC Hockey provincial championship later this week.
While a defence-first mentality was the key to a five-game sweep of their OMAHA playoff games and keeping their unbeaten record intact, the Rockets’ offence didn’t suffer in the least.
The KMHA representatives outscored their opposition 43-7 and they put an exclamation mark on their dominating performance in Osoyoos recently by defeating Penticton 11-2 in the championship game.
A three-goal output by Mason Rudolph led the Rockets’ scoring parade in the title game while Maddox Watson and Brogan Wood contributed a pair of goals each. Single tallies came from Austin Burd, Tyce Wood, Dawson Toews and Dryden Girard.
The Rockets had earned a berth in the final by defeating the West Kelowna Warriors 6-2 in the semifinal game that saw the winners explode for four goals in the second period after being shut out in the first.
A well-balanced attack saw six different players — Watson, Wood, Girard, Hunter Laing, Dion Schraeder and Dawson Toews — share the scoring for Kelowna. Austin Horbachewsky and Clayton Gilmore replied for the Warriors.
The Rockets, first-place finishers in the OMAHA regular season, won three straight playoff games in round-robin play that included two pools of four teams.
Going into the provincial tournament at the Hollyburn Winter Club in West Vancouver beginning on Saturday, Rockets coach, Kevin Lindsay, says the key to success will be to keep doing what the team has been doing all season.
“The boys have to stay focused one game at a time, keep their emotions in check and have a never-give-up mentality.”
Re-establishing — in a big way — their identity as a hard-working team, the underdog Kelowna Tier 3B Peewee Rockets outscored their opponents 20-3 in their final two playoff games to capture the OMAHA Tier 3 championship.
Up against the regular season’s first-place Tier 3 Rockets in the championship game in Salmon Arm, the T3Bs avenged three previous losses to their KMHA brothers by overcoming a 1-0 first-period deficit en route to a 9-2 victory and a berth in the BC Hockey Tier 3 provincial championship.
Keegan McCoy and Kenyon Price both scored twice for the winners in the title match while the rest of the balanced scoring came from Kelsen Podworny, Jett Toye-Fudger, Lukas Sisson, Braeden Leach and Kody Krivoshein.
Owen Ivanov and Nathan Metvedt replied for the Kelowna Tier 3s.
An 11-1 semifinal win over the West Kelowna Warriors earned the Rockets their spot in the championship game while they opened the round-robin portion of the playoffs with three straight wins — over Kamloops, Vernon and Salmon Arm.
Coach Steve Cawley said his players vowed before the playoffs they would outwork the opposition and that became the rallying cry for the weekend.
“Combine that with good skill, that high work ethic led to a great outcome for us,” he said. “And really, they were the keys to our success over the course of the entire season.
“It will be the same going into Provincials in Powell River. If we can combine our great chemistry with the hard work and high skill level the team possesses, we should be able to give any team a tough run.”
An earlier Bantam Tier 3 playoff loss to season-long-rival Kamloops Blazers proved advantageous for the Okanagan Mainline Minor Hockey Association-champion Kelowna Rockets.
Their 5-3 win over the Blazers in the championship game in Merritt came on the heels of a 4-3 defeat in post-season round-robin play in which the Rockets fell behind early and couldn’t come back.
“In hindsight, that loss was probably a good thing,” said Rockets head coach TJ Caig, whose team earned a berth at the BC Hockey provincial tournament being held in Port Hardy beginning on Sunday . “Our guys got that feeling of what it’s like to lose, and at the same time they realized we had to be ready right from the first puck-drop.”
That the Rockets’ scored a goal by Liam Moore 3:08 into the game in the final and led 3-0 by the early moments of the second proved they had learned their lesson and had heeded the counsel of coach Caig:
“Against strong teams like Kamloops, you can’t be chasing the game.”
With the luxury of at least a two-goal lead the entire game, the Rockets were able to keep it simple against the Blazers.
“The boys played solid, smart hockey,” said Caig. “They didn’t change the way they played, but they were really sharp all over the ice and didn’t give up many turnovers. And if they did, Ben (goalie Hadu) was there to make a big save at the right time.”
Moore notched two of the first three Kelowna goals while linemates Turner Chase and Tanner Sheridan chipped in with a goal apiece. Alexander Bronswyk rounded out the scoring for the winners.
Caig said the playoff wins and the Rockets’ season-long success were the result of an overall team effort.
“Everyone has chipped in by doing what they do best,” he explained. “The scorers scored, the playmakers passed, the checkers checked and the goalies were always focused and ready.”
The Rockets, first-place finishers in the regular season, earned a berth in the final by defeating the West Kelowna Warriors in semifinal play earlier in the day. Bronswyk completed a hat trick for the Rockets while Chase scored twice. Single Kelowna markers came from Ethan Stewart, Reese Ryan and Owen Pavan.
Rylan Fanning and Sebastien Lamoureux were the West Kelowna marksmen.
Although he hasn’t seen all of the teams competing for the BC Hockey banner on Vancouver Island, he’s confident his team — with a 22-2-1 record this season — will represent OMAHA and the KMHA well and will give any opponent “a push”.
“We’ve got the speed, teamwork and discipline in our own end to compete well with anyone,” said Caig, a KMHA graduate in his second season of coaching who went on to play 10 years of minor league pro in North America and in Europe. “We’re looking forward to seeing what we can do against the best in the province.”
First-place finishers in the regular season, the Kelowna Bantam A Female Rockets have added the OMAHA playoff pennant to their resume and will represent the zone at the BC Hockey championship tournament in Coquitlam starting on Tuesday.
A pair of wins (3-0 and 6-2) over Salmon Arm in the best-of-three final series earned the Rockets their berth at the provincial event being hosted by the Tri-Cities Predators.
After a scoreless first period in the opening game of the final, the Rockets broke the ice on Ava Halperin’s slapshot from the point off a pass from Bryn England. Emma Chater followed up by converting a feed from Cara Leone to give the Kelowna reps a 2-0 lead.
Tyra Rocha added an insurance marker in the third period, with Chater and Kylee Prentice assisting on the play. Tyra Cunningham earned the shutout win in goal.
In Game 2, a shorthanded goal by Ava Petty, assisted by Rocha and Chater, got the Rockets off to a quick start, but Salmon Arm responded with back-to-back goals to take their first lead of the series going into the second period.
Jozn Wickert and Rocha restored the Rockets’ lead while the eventual champions dominated the third, getting goals from Kaelin Foster Rocha and Petty.
With three tournament victories to their credit, the Kelowna Peewee Female Tier 1 Rockets will be among the favourites to claim a BC Hockey provincial championship in Trail later this month.
In tournament play — including a title win at the prestigious Wickenheiser Female World Hockey Festival in Surrey in February — the Rockets posted a 16-0 record.
Because there were no other tier 1 teams in OMAHA, the Rockets had a bye into the provincial tournament March 20-24 in Trail.
While the KMHA representatives look like the team to beat at Provincials, head coach John Graham is quick to point out the team will have to keep doing everything they’ve been doing all year to return to Kelowna with the provincial title.
“The keys to success at the provincial championship will be to make sure our players communicate, strive to outwork every team they face and to not let the pressure get to them.”
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