Rocky Mountain Raiders 5 Yorkton Terriers 1 Almost a month without game action the Westerns hosts showed no signs of rust.
Rocky Mountain Raiders 5 Yorkton Terriers 1
Almost a month without game action the Westerns hosts showed no signs of rust.
The Raiders spread out the offence to trump the Terriers 5 to 1 in the opening game of the Western Canadian Bantam AAA Championship Thursday morning at Pason Centennial Arena.
Okotokian Jaevon Buschlen got the hosts on the front foot midway through the opening period as he went bar-down on a clearcut breakaway on a stretch pass from defenceman Ryan Conroy.
The teams exchanged goals on consecutive shifts late in the frame. First, Rocky Mountain's Travis Thorhaug poked one in on the powerplay then Yorkton defenceman Josh Herman joined the rush and got the visitors on the board.
The offence from the defence theme continued in period two as Raiders blueliner Majid Kaddoura went to the net and was rewarded with a rebound tally.
Buschlen registered his second of the game midway through the third period, deflecting a cross-crease pass from teammate Hassan Akl. Okotoks' Andrew Bonham put the finishing touches on the four-goal triumph as he got his stick on a point-shot from defenceman Joel Dawson.
Buschlen was named the player of the game for the Raiders while hard-hitting defenceman Carson Dereniwsky took home the honour for the Terriers.
Jackson Berry made 17 saves in goal for Rocky Mountain as the Raiders out-shot their opposition by a 32-18 count.
Lethbridge Golden Hawks 3 Winnipeg Monarchs 1
Alberta's champions are showing no signs of slowing down.
The Golden Hawks held on for a 3-1 triumph over the Winnipeg Monarchs in a defensive battle.
Lethbridge carried the play in the first period with captain Bowen Byram and Roc Truman just missing out on golden scoring opportunities.
Winnipeg turned it up a notch in the middle stanza with Noel Scantlebury owning the best chance to open the scoring before just shooting wide on a partial breakaway.
Golden Hawk Tayler Miller finally broke the deadlock with 8:56 remaining in the middle period seconds into a powerplay after Monarch Brayden Foreman was given a game misonduct major for cross-checking.
Defenceman Nicholas Draffin doubled the Hawks' advantage with 13 minutes left in the third period as his seeing eye point shot found its way through a maze of defenders. Winnipeg would not go away quietly, rearguard Cole Leggat got the Monarchs on the board with 6:22 left to break Byron Fancy's shutout bid.
With the goalie pulled, Michael Horon buried an empty-netter to give Lethbridge the insurance tally.
Draffin was named player of the game for Lethbridge with Ethan Lewis taking home the award for Winnipeg.
Burnaby Winter Club Bruins 5 Yorkton Terriers 0
British Columbia's provincial champions made quite the first impression in Okotoks.
The Bruins scored twice in the first and second period to cruise to a 5-0 triumph over a Yorkton team playing its second game within the span of a few hours.
Captain Sasha Mutala opened the scoring on the powerplay then Samuel Schofield found twine at even-strength followed by second period tallies from Massimo Rizzo on the man advantage and Elan Bar-Lev-Wise at even-strength. Joshua O'Keefe wrapped up the scoreline with an early third period tally.
Ten Bruins got atleast one point in the contest led by a three-point effort from the team's player of the game Rizzo. Koen MacInnes made 11 saves for the shutout.
Yorkton netminder Spencer Welke made 37 saves to earn player of the game status for his club.
Winnipeg Monarchs 7 Rocky Mountain Raiders 3
Mitchell Joss was the star as Winnipeg picked up its first win in its second game.
Joss netted a hat-trick, Jonny Hooker added a pair as the opportunistic Monarchs dispatched the host Rocky Mountain Raiders by a 7-3 count.
Winnipeg didn't waste any time getting on the board as Joss potted a breakaway marker less than two minutes from the opening puck-drop. Eric Fawkes would double the lead shortly thereafter then Joss potted his second of the opening frame to give the red-clad Monarchs a 3-0 advantage at the first intermission.
Rocky Mountain's strong push back in the middle stanza finally paid dividends on the scoreboard when Kyle Crnkovic set up Tarun Fizer for the Raiders' opening tally on the man-advantage. Hooker restored the three-goal lead late in the second period with an unassisted goal.
Luke Seremet made it a four-goal lead less than two minutes into the final stanza. Crnkovic would get one back, but within a minute Hooker was celebrating his second goal of the evening.
Hassan Akl cut the lead to 6-3 with 1:48 on the clock answered nine seconds later by Joss to complete the first hat-trick performance of the Western championships.
Joss was named player of the game for Winnipeg while Crnkovic took home the honours for Rocky Mountain.
Day two of the Bantam Westerns starts at 9 a.m. on Friday in a battle of unbeaten clubs as Burnaby and Lethbridge lock horns.
For more information on the tournament go to okotoksbantamchampionship2016.com
