The Sunshine Coast Minor Hockey Association (SCMHA) Midget C1 Blues started the new year with a bang. Led by Coaches Darren deRoon and Dave Crosby, the team attended the Hope Wildcats Midget C Tournament Jan. 8 to 10.
The team got off to a great start, beating Richmond in the first game with goals from Payton Coyle, Jack Edginton, Nick Stinchcombe, Jake Chabot, Evan Hagedorn and Luke Bryan, who scored twice.
In the second game they faced the host team, Hope, and again managed to play an excellent passing game, coming out on top. Liam deRoon scored three goals, Brendan Dignard scored twice with Luke Bryan, Jayden Crosby, and Liam Schmidt each scoring a goal.
This was a close one with goalie Seth Joe and the defensive core of Kaiden deRoon, Colin Desrocher, Finn Rogers and Jake Chabot frustrating the home team’s efforts to get back into the game.
The third game versus Chilliwack C4 resulted in another win, but at a great cost as Liam Schmidt suffered a fall and left the game with a broken arm.
For the last game of our qualifying play, Ryden Custance – who had been out for the first two tournament days with the flu – joined the team for the matchup against Chilliwack C6 Coyotes.
The Blues and Coyotes came into the game tied in the preliminary standings, both with 3-0 records, nine points and tied in goals. Starting strong, the Blues were not able to maintain a lead but a third-period goal by Payton tied the score. Penalty minutes gave the Blues the edge in points as Chilliwack lost their sportsmanship point, giving the Blues the win in qualifying points with 11. This meant the final game was to be a rematch a couple of hours later.
The Chilliwack team was very talented and came out strong, managing to get a lead before the Blues hit their stride. Unfortunately the final game resulted in a loss for the Blues, with only one goal scored by Jayden Crosby.
This was a great way to open 2016 and work off the Christmas turkey – the team played excellent hockey, and finished in second place.
