Sooke Thunderbirds made a dramatic comeback Sunday to beat the Nanaimo Clippers in the Vancouver Island Amateur Hockey Association Atom A Division.
Down 4-1 in the first period and 4-3 in the second, the Thunderbirds scored three goals with five minutes to play in the third to claim the victory 9-6.
So far this season, the Thunderbirds have proven they don’t travel well, and Sunday was no different as the club struggled in the first period before finding its legs in the second and cruising to the win in the third.
The Thunderbirds also played without their regular goaltender and used defenceman Logan Bainbridge.
“Logan played well,” said coach Mike Szadkowski
“It was a hard-fought game.”
Szadkowski said his young charges haven’t had problems scoring this year, but need to work on their defensive play.
“We’re trying to improve defensively and [the team] is finding out hard work in practice pays off in games.”
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Sooke’s Midget Female team travelled to the North Island over the weekend to play Tri-Port, but came home without a win.
Tri-Port, which includes players from Port Hardy, Port Alice and Port McNeill, beat Sooke 5-2 Saturday in a regulation game and 4-2 Sunday in an exhibition tilt.
Weekend goal scorers for Sooke included Alyssa Lloyd, Olivia Carello, Chevy Alexander and Desiree Cumming.
Hannah Berger played well between the pipes in what coach Peter Faulkner called a “very physical game.”
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It was a tough weekend for the Midget Thunderbirds too as they were blanked in two games – 4-0 against the Oceanside Generals and 3-0 in an away game Sunday versus the Cowichan Capitals.
The Thunderbirds again played short-handed, with one of their top defenceman – Kyle Berger – out with a knee injury.
“We just couldn’t get anything going offensively,” said coach Kevin Berger.
We had great [scoring] opportunities but we couldn’t get anything going.
“It was tough, really tough.”
The Thunderbirds are home Saturday with a game against the Nanaimo Clippers. Game time is 5 p.m.