By Jason Portras
The Revelstoke Minor Hockey Association kicked off a showcase of home tournaments last weekend, with the Atom Division out of the gates first. They hosted five teams for a total of 13 games played over the course of three days November 6-8.
There were 13 great raffle gifts up for grabs, 50/50 draws for each game, and a couple of great items up for silent auction.
I strongly encourage my fellow Revelstokians to come out over the next couple of weekends for some great items and entertainment while supporting your local Minor Hockey Association. Imagine how cool it’d be for these local young athletes if the stands were filled to the brim with cheering fans for their games!
For this past Saturday’s games, the North Okanagan Knights were delayed from reaching Revelstoke due to a Highway 1 West closure caused by a semi accident. This resulted in the Grizzlies playing back-to-back games so that the Knights’ games could be rescheduled for later that afternoon. Yet, this did not appear to cause the Grizzlies any undue hardship.
The first Saturday game saw the Grizzlies dominating the Fury throughout, most of the game playing out in the Fury’s end of the ice. The Junior Grizzlies passed the puck like a well-oiled machine and took advantage of just about every opportunity that presented itself. Young Sawyer Grimm came away with four goals, Kurtis Kinoshita and Ryan Howe each scored two goals, and Thomas MacDonald got himself the last goal in the final period. For Kelowna, Kenyan Price achieved a well-earned hat-trick. The final score was Grizzlies 9, Fury 3.
The second Saturday game was a tougher, harder-fought win. The first period ended in a 1-1 tie. In the second period, Trail was plagued by two penalties while Revelstoke had one. The second period ended 4-1 for the Grizzlies. The third period saw Trail charged with yet another three penalties while Revelstoke got just one. Although the penalty calls seemed to favour Revelstoke, it was also clear they were the more highly skilled team during this encounter. On their way to a 6-2 win, Revelstoke players Sawyer Grimm and Ryan Howe gained another two goals each, while Justin Kungl and Kurtis Kinoshita each came away with single goals. Scoring for Trail were Parker Weishaupt and Cole Stykel.
After the regular tournament games, Revelstoke placed first overall and Trail placed fourth. This made for an early Sunday morning start for the two teams at a brisk 8 am as they faced each other in the semi-finals. Trail appeared to be playing catch-up most of the game, as the Revelstoke players just clicked together, often anticipating each other’s moves. Grizzlies players Sawyer Grimm and Kurtis Kinoshita scored two goals each, while Donald Robichaud, Justin Kungl, and Loucious Cadieux scored the other three. Trail’s lone goal was scored by Scott McLaren. The final score was 7-1 for the Grizzlies, putting them in contention to win the tournament at the 1 pm championship game.
The second place North Okanagan Knights beat out the third place Kelowna Fury in the other semi-final game by a score of 6-2, pitting them against the hometown Grizzlies for the championship.
That was another rough-and-tumble style game and the final had both teams fighting off four penalties apiece. Yet, the Grizzlies wore the Knights down, pounding the puck back into their opponent’s end over and over again as the Knights tried to bring it out. The end result was a 10-1 victory for the hometown boys. For the Knights, the only goal scorer was Grady McAuley. For the Grizzlies, Loucious Cadieux, Sawyer Grimm, and Kurtis Kinoshita scored two goals each while Thomas MacDonald, Donald Robichaud, Ryan Howe, and Hunter Fuoco scored the remaining 4 goals.
The final overall standings for the tournament were as follows:
| Revelstoke Jr. Grizzlies | 5 – 0 |
| North Okanagan Knights | 3 – 2 |
| Kelowna Fury | 1 – 3 |
| Trail Warriors | 1 – 3 |
| Golden Atomic Rockets | 2 – 2 |
| Kamloops Chill | 0 – 4 |
Note: All images in this article can be purchased at: www.revelstoke-life-and-times.redframe.com for $15 each in four different galleries (listed under the Menu tab), or by contacting Jason Portras at jportras@telus.net.
