The Sooke Midget A Thunderbirds won gold at the Saanich New Year’s Classic Hockey tournament over the holidays.
The local boys played five games over the three-day tournament.
The Thunderbirds tournament dream almost came to a crashing halt as goalie Max Clouser was delayed in Philadelphia due to weather.
The Midget A’s called up Nick Haisell from the Bantam team to fill in for their opening game against Juan de Fuca T3, winning 8-2.
Loing-time rival Port Alberni was next and the Thunderbirds lost 6-1.
Game 3 saw the Thunderbirds battle Nanaimo T2 to a 3-3 tie.
Sooke advanced through the semifinals with a 5-2 thumping of Saanich T3.
With just 13 skaters, the Thundebirds took on Nanaimo T3.
“These two well matched teams battled the entire game,” said Thunderbirds coach Kevin Berger.
The game ended in a 3-3 tie. After a five-minute overtime, the tie remained.
Sooke and Nanaimo lined up their best shooters to go head to head in a shoot out for gold.
Clouser stopped the first two goals to shut out Nanaimo. Sooke’s Nin Dougall and captain Jaden Lawrence both scored to win the game.