By Graham Perkins /
ATOM
The Atom A2 team spent the entire season in the shadow of the dominant A1 team, but still managed to put together a season that was impressive by any measure of success.
The team finished the season with a record of 11-6-1, playing in a tough Tier 1 group that saw them face off against not only BWC’s A1 team on a regular basis, but also NSWC A1, Seafair A1 and Thunderbirds A1.
“It was a great year, the team played extremely well,” said head coach Darren Naylor. “We lost a total of six games all year, and five of those were to teams in the final four. We beat every team on the other side and had the second best GAA in Atom next to the A1 team.”
That BWC had so much success at the Atom level this year bodes extremely well for the organization moving forward, but the fact that the A2 team was made up almost entirely of first-year players will go a long way to fast-tracking the development of the players.
The A3 team was also put in Tier 1 for the season and went through a lot of growing pains as the year wore on, finishing 3-13-2. But adhering to the old axiom of “whatever doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger,” the squad appreciated the chance to play against tougher competition and looks poised to continue pushing next season.
PEEWEE
Playing in the shadow of a dominant team is exactly what the Peewee A2 team had to deal with this season. The squad finished the season 4-10-4 in Tier 1, good enough for seventh place out of 12 teams and no small feat considering all 11 opponents were A1 clubs.
The biggest moment of the squad’s season came during the playoffs. The Bruins managed to get on a roll and advance to the Final Four, but lost the opening game to Semiahmoo 4-3. In the second game against top-seeded NSWC, BWC was leading 2-1 in the final minute of regulation time and looked poised for the upset. But with the goalie pulled, the Winterhawks scored a soul-crushing goal with eight seconds left and the game finished in a tie.
BWC tied Mission the following day and finished in third place, just short of a trip to the Provincials.
Coach Aldo Bruno understands how playing against better competition only serves to forge a stronger group of hockey players.
“Overall, it was a good year, for us to compete in Tier 1,” he said.
The A3 team enjoyed a steady year playing in Tier 3. The club finished the season 9-7-2, putting it right in the middle of the pack.
They started the year by defeating Abbotsford A2 4-1 in what would be one of Abbotsford’s only four losses all season.
The team also narrowly came out on top in terms to goal differential: they scored three more goals than they let in.
BANTAM
The Bantam A1 team finally put the year to rest last week with a bronze-medal win at the Western Bantam Championships.
As tournament hosts, the team knew it was guaranteed a spot from the beginning of the year but pushed hard to “go through the front door,” as head coach John Batchelor often put it.
It didn’t pan out exactly that way, as NSWC defeated the Bruins in the Provincial final, but the two top B.C. teams wound up facing each other twice in the Westerns: once to start the tournament and once to finish it. They got revenge on the Winterhawks right off the bat with a 5-2 win on the first day of competition.
“As much as you don’t like to lose, they’re a good hockey team,” Batchelor said. “Both teams respect each other for the competitive edge. They just make us better. It was nice to get that win after provincials, though. We did quite a bit of homework.”
One of the main adjustments Batchelor and his staff made was to put together a line to try and neutralize NSWC’s top scorer, Nick Petan. The trio of Mike Nolan, Nick Hermary and Malcolm Glaholt were given the responsibility, with Nolan drawing Petan’s number.
“Mike did a good job. Those guys skate so well if he ever got loose they got to angle him off. He’s still a good player and still got chances, though.”
The Bruins suffered a tough loss in the second game against an extremely physical Winnipeg Monarchs team. The Bruins had seen the Monarchs play in the Medicine Hat tournament back in November, but the club that came to the Westerns was much tighter and more focussed than they were ready for. Winnipeg won the game 4-2 and set BWC up for a tie against the Calgary Bisons.
After Burnaby handily defeated the Saskatoon Frostbite 8-1 on the second to last day, they needed Winnipeg to beat Calgary to secure second place and move on to the finals. But Calgary emerged with a 7-2 win to end the host team’s ultimate dream of winning gold at home.
The final game against the Winterhawks with third-place on the line was fittingly dramatic, considering how both teams were neck and neck all year. It was tied 1-1 in double overtime when Maclean Hewitt finally ended the affair when he jumped on a loose puck in traffic and put it behind the goalie to secure the win.
“Going in to O.T., I just told the boys to shoot the puck. Forget trying to score a pretty goal, just rip the puck towards the net. That’s usually how overtime ends.”
One of the players on the Bruins that the scouts undoubtedly had an eye on was defenseman Joseph Carvalho, BWC’s captain. Carvalho was a major presense in all the games he played and showed off his intuitiveness of the game.
“When the going gets tough, he just seems to find another level. His vision and ability to read the play are as good as anybody at this level,” Batchelor said.
NEWS & NOTES
The Juvenile A1 team finally secured the President Series banner after Olympic fever died down. A win against Aldergrove mathematically guaranteed the series win for the Bruins, as all other teams were out of contention.
It was an interesting end for the Juvenile boys. One of the reasons why the final game took so long to set up was because of an incident that occurred last time the two teams met, where an impromptu punch-up by Aldergrove ended with suspensions being levelled and some BWC players in the hospital for minor injuries.
In the President Series, the Bruins got off to a phenomenal start but ran into scheduling issues when the time came to face Aldergrove again. Head coach Dan Melanson justifiably wanted the game to be played on neutral ice, but the PCAHA was slow to reschedule a different venue because of the busy time of year with playoffs. There was a lower priority level assigned to the Juvenile team, but everything worked out well for the club when they found some ice in Richmond and made it out to see an 8-5 win.
“I counted the shots, and we had 27 shots to their 14 or 15,” Melanson said. “We played most of the game in their end, their goalie is well exercised. No rowdy fans came from Aldergrove, all in all it turned out to be a normal hockey game.”
The regular season game against Aldergrove where everyone was beaten up was a minor team-building thing in a sense, as everyone got used to sticking to each other and bumped up the team’s toughness in the process. |