The Sunshine Coast Atom C2 Blues have peaked at the right time, finishing alone atop their tough Pacific Coast Amateur Hockey Association playoff bracket, with four gritty wins, while earning points in nine of their last 11 games.
Last weekend in North Vancouver, the Blues secured a 3-1 win over a gutsy North Vancouver team, earning themselves a chance to bring home the coveted PCAHA Atom banner.
Battling the adversity of missing three key players, Shamus Hindmarch, Jacob Beerling and Tarun Henderson, the rest of the Blues squad stepped up by playing simple, smart and supportive hockey. Behind the usual solid goal-tending of Drayden Ashley, forward Ryan Poulton opened the scoring early in the first period with a nifty redirection off a hard shot by defenseman Brendan Somogyi.
For the next two periods, end-to-end action ensued with both teams finding several quality chances, with the tireless penalty-killing unit of forwards Laszlo Istvanffy and Evan Schober protecting the lead. The defensive tandem of Ryan Moore and Micah Van Klinken also helped thwart several odd-man rushes.
After North Van tied the score, the Blues took over with goals by Jonathan Ward and Lucca Chalmers to secure the victory.
Bryce Pearson and captain Adam Cimbala both had strong third periods.
The Blues will face-off against North Van C5 in the banner game this Friday, Feb. 27 starting at 5:30 p.m. at the Gibsons Arena.
