Thunderbirds
Dale’s Electric Sooke Thunderbirds Atom1 met Saanich Braves on Saturday at SEAPARC in a hard-fought, energetic game. After trading goals for two periods, the Braves came away with a 6-4 win.
Only two minutes into the game, Finley Arthurs picked up a loose puck in front of the Braves net and backhanded it home. A minute later the Braves answered and after five minutes of end to end action, they scored again. While killing one of their numerous penalties on the day, Braydon Blythe’s efforts set up Ben Ackinclose to tie the game at two with a short-handed goal.
A third of the way into the second period amid end to end action, Matthew Lyons streaked up the left side of the ice, drove hard to the net and fired a wrist shot past the Braves’ net minder. Again the Braves matched this goal and added another soon after.
Sooke’s fourth goal came near the end of the second period. Battling hard for the Thunderbirds on defence, Travis McCrea took control of the puck in his own end. He decked a couple Braves on his way up the ice and finished the rush with the puck trickling through the goalie’s legs into the net.
The Braves finished the second with two quick goals.
The Thunderbirds pushed hard to come back and had many great opportunities but were kept off the scoreboard in the third period. They settled down defensively and halted the Braves offence as well.
Peewee Girls
Marcotte’s Marketing’s Peewee girls team is undefeatable after 4 league games. On Saturday, at the Naden arena, the Peewee girls were playing against Victoria. The girls struck out early in the game. After 50 minutes, Sooke Thunderbirds won by a strong score of 6-1. Michele Lacombe only faced three shoots, due to the strong defensive plays by Jennifer Simonis, Victoria Sutherland, Kierra Taylor and Hailey Olejnik. First year hockey player Celina Palko also played very good in the offensive zone. Rory Wood finished the game with a hat trick, two goals from Olivia Carello and one goal from Alyssa Lloyd. The coaching staff are very pleased with the great team effort and the team spirit.
“Every girl of our team is a great input for our succes so far,” says coach Steve. “Further we go in the season, the more challenging the other team will be, but we are ready for any challenge.” Good job, Sooke Peewee girls!
Novice 3
Your Sooke Novice 3 Thunderbirds made us all proud over the holidays at the Novice 3 tournament hosted by Saanich at Pearkes Recreation Centre.
Behind the net minding of Jack Price, Owen Phipps, Jordan English and Beau Hicks the team dominated the tournament winning 14-1, 4-1, 22-0 and 11-1 respectively.
Connor Keys, Taio Croden and Alex Kozinka aided Tait Bishop on many of the scoring plays. A strong presence in front of the net was made with Connor North as the boys limited the opponents to very few shots on their net.
They also won two of three shoot outs after the games and played with confidence and sportsmanship. As the leads grew the boys passed more readily and displayed some exceptional team play.
Grant Gilbertson returned for the last game after holidays as did Kolby Knowles to add additional firepower.