Cowichan Valley Minor Hockey's U13 T3 Capitals have returned from provincials in Dawson Creek with a bronze medal.
"It was a great experience," said coach Brad Scafe. "The boys played extremely well, I could not have been more proud as a coach and as a parent with my own son on the team."
The Capitals began their tournament with a 6-6 tie against Mission on March 16.
"Mission was ranked No. 13 in the province for all U13 rep teams. We were ranked No. 26 so we did pretty good being able to battle back and get a tie," Scafe said.
Gus Steeves led the team with a hat-trick while Kai Yamamoto-Untereiner added a pair. Emmett Scyrup got the team's final goal. Sheamus Scafe and Colby Hui were credited with official assists.
Goalie Eston Clement faced 42 shots, stopping all but six.
The following day Cowichan ousted Smithers by a 12-3 score and Steeves exploded for seven of those goals. Zachary Dzhevelekyan scored a hat-trick and Jack Degraaf added a pair.
Yamamoto-Untereiner, Scafe, Steeves, Hui, Degraaf, Blake Windsor, Pearse Bernard Mokkeken, Rocky Main, and Oliver Brooks all had at least one assist.
Clement once against stood tall, stopping 30 of 33 shots.
Against Fort St. John on the morning of March 18, Steeves and Scafe both scored three while Scyrup and Hui potted pairs. Singles were scored by Yamamoto-Untereiner, Windsor, and Eric Vaast.
That afternoon Cowichan met the Kelowna Rockets. Down two goals in the second, Steeves pulled the team to within one only for Kelowna to regain the lead a few minutes later. Undaunted, Cowichan kept pushing and goals from Yamamoto-Untereiner and then Steeves again led to a 3-3 draw.
The morning of March 19 Cowichan met their match in the Arbutus Club in the semi-finals.
Down 6-0 early in the third, Cowichan could have given up but they didn't.
"We were able to get on the board with roughly eight minutes left in the third on a penalty shot," Scafe said.
Steeves unleashed for his 16th of the tournament to get Cowichan on the board.
"From there things began to get interesting. We scored four more goals in a span of six minutes to make the score 6-5 and had a couple chances with 30 seconds left in the game," said the coach.
Degraaf, Dzhevelekyan, Steeves again, and Yamamoto-Untereiner all scored to bring the score to 6-5.
"Everyone in the arena was going crazy, it was one of the craziest things I have ever seen as a coach," Scafe recalled. "It was heartbreaking that we lost, but as a coach I could not have been more proud on how the team never gave up and continued to fight until the final buzzer."
The loss was their first of the provincial tournament and sent them to the bronze medal game. It was a familiar foe on the other side of the puck as the Capitals met the team they'd kicked off the event against — Mission. While the two teams were able to tie their pool play game, only one of the teams would secure the bronze medal.
Cowichan scored four unanswered goals from Yamamoto-Untereiner, Steeves (2), and Scafe to take a 4-0 lead into the third period.
Two Mission goals in the first 90 seconds of the third made a game of it but Cowichan would ultimately prevail on the strength of another goal from Yamamoto-Untereiner to give the team the 5-3 win and the bronze medal.
"After such a dramatic loss in the semi-final, I was really proud of the group on how they were able to refocus and compete against a very strong Mission team," Scafe said. "To be able to bring home a medal from a provincial championship is a huge accomplishment and I am proud I was able to be a part of it with a great group of young men."
