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Cowichan Valley C1 overcomes early loss for Atom C hockey tournament title

Lake Cowichan Lakers go undefeated until the last game at Fuller Lake Arena
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Lake Cowichan Lakers lost only one of five games in an Atom C Christmas hockey tournament at Fuller Lake Arena. Unfortunately for them, it was the one that counted most.

Lake Cowichan made it all the way to the final of the four-team tournament undefeated, but then dropped a 6-3 decision to Cowichan Valley C1 Thursday.

Caelen Smith-Richards inflicted most of the damage with four goals while George Qi scored the other two for Cowichan Valley C1.

It was generally expected the two teams would meet in the final, but it almost didn’t happen as Cowichan Valley C1 faltered in the early going before getting its game together and gathering momentum as the tournament wore on.

The tournament itself almost didn’t happen. No one wanted to run it, but the Cowichan Valley Memorial Tournament group (formerly called the Ryan Clark Memorial) decided to take it on.

“I couldn’t let these four teams not have a tournament,” said Kathy Irving, who led the volunteer effort. “Our Memorial Tournament did it so these little teams could play.”

The tournament involving two Cowichan Valley teams, Lake Cowichan and Comox ran for two days Dec. 27-28. After the round robin, the teams went into the semifinals and the survivors of those games played for the championship.

There were a few surprises along the way.

“Our little Cowichan team stepped it up, beat the Atom C1 team,” noted Irving. “They hadn’t done that all year long. It was cool to do that little tournament.”

All the players received T-shirts in a similar design as ugly Christmas sweaters. Those were a big hit.

The MVPs of each game also received towels in the same tradition as the Midget Memorial Tournament in March.

The round robin for the Atom C event opened with that one upset, as Cowichan Valley C2 knocked off C1 5-3 behind a hat trick by Preston Meadmore.

The Lakers then got hat tricks from three players - Liam Fawcett, Dixie Bergman and Ty McKinlay - to defeat Comox Valley 12-2.

Meadmore was at it again in the next game with a hat trick, as Cowichan Valley C2 blasted Comox 10-4 and the opening day concluded with a 5-5 tie between Cowichan Valley C1 and the Lakers.

The first two games Dec. 28 brought the round robin to a close. The Lakers got goals from seven different players to overcome another hat trick from Meadmore in a 7-4 victory over Cowichan Valley C2 and three goals by Cole Byrne led Cowichan Valley C1 past Comox 9-4.

In the playoff round, the first-place Lakers had a tough time with Comox, winning 6-4 behind Ollie Fawcett’s three goals, while Cowichan Valley C1 avenged its earlier defeat with a 4-3 nailbiter over Cowichan Valley C2.

That set the stage for the final and the only game the Lakers played that didn’t end in a victory, much to their disappointment.

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Don Bodger

About the Author: Don Bodger

I've been a part of the newspaper industry since 1980 when I began on a part-time basis covering sports for the Ladysmith-Chemainus Chronicle.
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