Nail-biter Atom C2This past Saturday, Sooke’s game against Peninsula C2 got off to a late start when Jacob Thomas, assisted by Alex Perman, scored Sooke’s first goal, with only 2:15 remaining in the first period. Peninsula tied it in the second before Kohl Logan put Sooke ahead with 12 seconds left on the clock. Peninsula rallied back with a pair at the start of the third. Sooke fought hard and Bentley MacKinnon, from Dale Arden, tied it. Peninsula went up once again with less than 10 minutes remaining in the third. With 1:52 remaining Kohl Logan, assisted by Lemont Major, evened it. The final score was a well-earned 4-4 at the buzzer.The boys were back on the ice early Sunday morning to face Sooke Atom C1, a team with many familiar faces, and a team they had yet to beat. Thomas once again opened the scoring, this time five minutes into the first. Kyle Brown (Connor Mowat) put the C2’s up by two midway through the first. Great defensive play by Mark Dyson and Alex Perman managed to protect C2’s lead until late in the period, when Sooke C1 when Sooke C1 got two quick goals, making the score 2-2 going into the second. Lamont Major (Kohl Logan) scored C2’s third goal with a little under nine minutes left. Jacob Thomas came through with the equalizer late in the third period. Final score, again 4-4.– Shannon SomersBantam recapSooke Bantam Rep A boys were in action the weekend of 26/27 February in a best of three series for the Vancouver Island Championship against the heavily favoured Peninsula AA Panthers, who had outscored its opponents 24-1 in the first two rounds of the playoffs.Game one was played in Sooke last Saturday, with the boys coming out skating hard and being rewarded by Cody Lajeunesse, assisted by Charlie Richardson. Peninsula’s #19 tied it with his first of eight points on the day.A beautiful rebound was banged home in the second by one of the called up affiliate players for Sooke, Tyler Duncan, assisted by Aaron Lott and our other call up, Jack Kendall. Peninsula then took control, led by #19, scoring three more goals to put his team up 4-2 after two. Despite a strong first period, Sooke was outshot in the second period 23 to 9 and that imbalance was reflected on the scoreboard. The Sooke boys came out a little flat in to start the third, and despite some excellent work down low, they didn’t find the back of the Peninsula net in the third, and with Peninsula adding four more goals, the final for game one was 8-2 for the visitors.The team also lost the services of one of its top defenceman for the season when standout D-man Charlie Richardson left the game with a broken collarbone. The next day at Peninsula. Sooke held #19 to a single assist. Peninsula jumped out to first frame lead of 2-0. The first half was back and forth then midway through, a long stretch pass to an offside Peninsula player was missed by the officials and he went in to make it 3-0 for Peninsula. Fired up by the botched call, the Sooke players were rewarded a few minutes later when Captain Quinton Macdonnell (Brandon Cornbill) scored. Then, with seconds remaining in the period, and on the power play, a blistering Macdonnell point shot was tipped home by Luke Pitre for a 3-2 Peninsula lead after two. With five minutes on the clock, a turnover in the neutral zone was rushed in and driven home by Peninsula putting them up 4-2. Sooke then pulled its goalie for the final minute and a half, and with just under a minute remaining, Cody Lajeunesse (Abe Lamontagne) brought the score to 4-3. Sooke kept its goalie out, and two great scoring chances for Aaron Lott and Ben Sleivert were both turned aside, and Peninsula was finally able to corral the loose puck and scored an empty net goal to wrap things up 5-3. The Sooke Bantam rep team will wrap up its season at the 2011 Bantam Western Classic tournament March 10-13 in Abbotsford. The team’s thoughts are with our injured defenceman, Charlie, for a full and speedy recovery. His skill and great attitude will be missed on the blue line and on the bench. Get well soon! Job well done boys!