The Tri-City Predators are proof that it is not how you start but how you finish.
The Pacific Coast Amateur Hockey Association got whacked on the opening day of the B.C. Hockey Provincial Girls Bantam Championship tournament, falling 9-1 to the Richmond Ravens last week.
But the team was able to shake off the loss and when the club met Richmond in the final finals they avenged the previous defeat with a 2-1 win and a B.C. banner.
“This was a huge win and very emotional for the players,” said Preds head coach Dave Van Straten in an email. “As a team, we had one goal all season and that was to win the provincial championships. The girls continued to develop as a team all season and remained focused on the task at hand.”
In the finals, Tri-Cities broke a scoreless deadlock in the second period and just missed on at least three other chances to extend their lead. They made it a two-goal game early in the third, then held off a furious Ravens charge for a well-deserved 2-1 victory — surprising many in the capacity crowd at the Richmond Ice Centre’s forum rink.
Jenna Buglioni and Alexis Gagno scored for Tri-Cities, while goalie Ashlee Van Straten stopped 28 of the 29 shots she faced.
“Richmond is a very skilled team with a lot of depth,” Van Straten said. “They work hard and had a ton of success this year. In two tournaments this season we ended up in the finals against them and they took both games.”
The Preds started the tournament off with a 4-1 win over Kelowna on the first day before their blowout against Richmond. However, the squad bounced back with a win on the second day, shutting out North West 11-0 before defeating South Island 12-1 on Day 3.
A 5-2 victory over Abbotsford on the fourth day of the championship run and an 11-1 win over Prince George the next day set the stage for the finals against Richmond.
Van Straten said the early defeat to Richmond helped spark his team and get them ready for the finals.
“I believe that loss had a huge impact on our girls’ final game performance,” he added. “These players are competitive and were now more motivated than ever.”
A few tweaks to the Tri-Cities’ forecheck and neutral zone coverage made the difference, Van Straten said, and he credited the club’ penalty kill as a major factor in the championship win.
“Defensively, we played our best game of the year with tenacious back checking,” he added.
The Predators and the Ravens have been battling all season.
Tri-Cities managed a 5-2 victory back in January and tied Richmond 2-2 in the playoffs a few weeks ago.
“We were not pushed at any point in the provincials and sometimes you lose your edge a bit,” said Richmond Ravens bench boss Tony Lindsay. “The three other times I have won provincials [with other teams] we had always had some kind of setback in round-robin play. This time there was no adversity and it was the first close game we had.”
PEEWEE PREDS
In peewee female hockey, the Tri-City Predators came up short of winning a provincial banner in Surrey last week.
After going 4-2 in the tournament, the team fell 6-3 to Kelowna in the finals, which took the banner with a 5-0-1 record.
On their way to the championship game, the Predators shutout Kamloops 12-0, before falling to Richmond 4-2 and defeating Surrey 3-2. They were blanked by Kelowna 3-0 but punched their ticket to the finals with a 7-4 win over South Island.
-with files from the Richmond News
