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Sports

Clan best 'Pack in hockey final

Cam Charron - Sports Editor

Two breakdowns on consecutive shifts in the third period erased a 1-0 Thompson Rivers lead, and they dropped the championship final of the British Columbia Intercollegiate Hockey League 1-2 to the Simon Fraser University Clan Sunday at the Langley Event Centre.

The WolfPack had beaten the Clan 10-7 on Saturday to advance to the final, forcing Simon Fraser to play a second semi-final against the Okanagan College Crusaders, where they eventually won in a shootout, but, even after playing 125 minutes of hockey, Simon Fraser’s forwards were able to stifle Thompson Rivers.

“That’s hockey,” said WolfPack head coach Chris Hans on the final. “You know, things happen, bounces happen, mistakes happen. We were almost able to come back and tie it up and deal with those mistakes.”

Casey Patterson opened the scoring for the WolfPack midway through the second period on a powerplay. He took a beautiful seeing-eye pass from Kevin Hanna and tucked it past a sliding Mulholland to make it 1-0.

But just as the third got underway, Chris Chan scored a powerplay goal of his own to tie the game up on a faceoff play that left Chan wide open on the top circle. His wrist shot beat goaltender Blake Tancock high stick side.

On the very next shift, a breakdown left Simon Fraser coming in on a rush two-on-one, with the puck coming to forward Jas Rai. Tancock slid right to compensate, but Chan showed strong hands and held onto the puck, sliding it past Tancock.

Despite that, Tancock had his strongest outing of the season, stopping 36 of 38 Simon Fraser shots and was named the team’s MVP.

“Today we turned our heads off for two plays, one quick faceoff draw and one offensive rush where they got a guy open,” Tancock said. “The whole team, me included, didn’t pick it up, and [Simon Fraser] capitalized on it.”

“There’s nothing more I want than to come back next year, and win it, hopefully in front of SFU.” “It was his best of the season, he played awesome,” Hans said. “I’m very proud of Blake and very happy for him, but it’s unfortunate we couldn’t win the championship because we got championship goaltending today.”

On the other side, Justin Mulholland, who had seen 21 goals get past him in the previous three games he’s played against Thompson Rivers, didn’t have to make the big saves, but was solid when it counted, and allowed only the one Patterson goal.

“I just played my game, I didn’t play their game,” Mulholland said. “Before I was getting into the beak-fest with them and they were chirping me I was chirping back.”

“It’s an emotional roller coaster ride when you get to the championship like that,” said Simon Fraser head coach Mark Coletta. “Today they stayed steady.”

Clan captain Andrew Graham credited his coaching staff with the team being able to play more than three games worth of hockey on the Saturday and Sunday. “I think we’re the best conditioned team in this league,” he said.

The win for Simon Fraser is their second BCIHL title, their first being back in 2008. Last year saw them get upset by the University of Victoria in the final.

After the game, the WolfPack players collected their silver medals, none too jovial about their accomplishment. 5’6” forward Mick Ludvig, though small in size, accepted his medal without a smile and looked like he was ready to kill.

“It’s frustrating, especially going into the last period of the year,” WolfPack captain David Boychuk said about the loss. “We just needed twenty minutes to really buckle down and work hard and pull out the win.”

While the Sunday game did not go as planned for the WolfPack, wins earlier in the tournament brought about a number of different goal scorers. Joel Leonard had a hat trick against the University of Fraser Valley in an 8-2 win on the Thursday.

Both Leonard and Jassi Sangha, who play on the top line with Andrew Fisher, had three goals and four assists to lead the team in scoring throughout the tournament. Sangha had a hat trick of his own in the Saturday semi-final game, but it was Kevin Hanna’s two goals that earned him a player of the game nod.

“Kind of a nice find, isn’t it, to get a kid who gets game star in probably our biggest game so far this season,” Hans said. Hanna was a late addition to the WolfPack, playing in just eight games but scoring three goals and adding four assists. “He’s highly-skilled, he’s well liked in the dressing room, and he’s a great addition.”

The WolfPack are still a young team and can hopefully return the bulk of their core to the team next year to play in front of hungry crowds at Memorial Arena. The team was by far the most supported team in the BCIHL and by far the most supported TRU team.

Reaching the final in the first season of play was a huge accomplishment and full marks go out to coach Chris Hans, along with Troy Clifford, Mitch Zulinikc, André Larouche and Rob Adkin for all their work with the Kamloops Collegiate Hockey Society in bringing this organization to TRU students.

Crusaders come close to upset

On the day that saw Kansas, Villanova and New Mexico eliminated from the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, Okanagan College came close to a monumental upset of their own, coming within a shootout goal of defeating Simon Fraser in the second semi-final.

Simon Fraser took a 2-0 lead out of the first period, but Okanagan College chipped back and tied it up at two on a goal by Jerry Gaba, with SFU forward Bill Smith in the penalty box.

Overtime would solve nothing, and a shootout was needed. After Matt Elia made it 1-0 for OC in the shootout frame, Jackson Friesen and Bill Smith beat goaltender Adam Butler and SFU took the game 3-2 after the shootout.

“Oh man did I redeem myself,” said Smith. “I got the goalie down, I got him moving and just slid it in five-hole.”

“It’s a tough pill to swallow,” Crusaders head coach Kim Barnstable said. “Everybody knows now, in this league, in the stands, everybody knows who we are now.”

Okanagan College were one of two expansion teams in the BCIHL this year (the other being the WolfPack) and split time between three different rinks at home. On Saturday, they played more than 130 minutes of hockey, playing through overtime in both of their games.

Scary moment on Saturday

In the Saturday quarterfinal game, with the score tied 3-3 late in the third period, Micah Anderson of Okanagan College hit Trinity Western defenseman Tyler Vandergaag from behind into the boards. Vandergaag crumpled and fell to the ice unconscious.

He would be awake and moving, but was taken to hospital on a spinal board, being assessed for both neck injuries and concussions. He also sported a large cut on his right eye, a by-product of being smashed face-first into the glass.

The game was delayed by over half-an-hour and Anderson went unpunished, as the referee Mike Campbell did not see the hit. Anderson was booed by the small contingent of Titans fans every time he touched the puck, and Vandergaag’s teammate Craig MacDermott slammed Anderson into the boards on his next shift, resulting in a game misconduct.

Okanagan College would eventually win that game in a shootout.

Omega's tournament all-star team

Goaltender: Adam Butler, Okanagan College: Butler had a number of key saves in key points in both of his team's Saturday games. Some big saves late nearly stole the game for the Crusaders against the Clan.

Defenseman: Cody Rose, Thompson Rivers: Rose had five assists in his team's three games, and quarterbacked a terrific TRU powerplay that came through until the final game.

Defenseman: Adam Chapman, Simon Fraser: Chapman ate up minutes on Sunday and led a solid breakout that stymied the WolfPack forecheckers.

Forward: Jassi Sangha, Thompson Rivers: Sangha, alongside linemate Joel Leonard, led the tournament in scoring with seven points and his hat-trick in the first semifinal had goals coming at key moments. He was also a wrecking ball with his hitting.

Forward: Jas Rai, Simon Fraser: Rai scored the tournament-winning goal, and was an offensive presence whenever he touched the puck, generating scoring chances and making smart decisions.

Forward: Jackson Friesen, Simon Fraser: SFU's leading scorer in the regular season generated a key turnover which led to Rai's winning goal. He also led his team in playoff scoring.