The final day of the South Coast Women’s Hockey Championship was played Sunday March 26th at the Richmond Ice Center in front of a packed house.
The game featured the Kamloops Vibe take on the South Fraser TNT in an afternoon match-up title game that had everyone on the edge of their seats and by many was called a “nail bitter” that saw the Kamloops Vibe pull out an impressive 1-0 over TNT take home Championship the trophy for 2016-17 season.
The Vibes advanced to the finals by winning the “B” pool going undefeated with a 2-0 record defeating the host club the Richmond Devils by a margin of 3-1 playing in the semi-finals advancing to the League championship game Sunday afternoon.
On the other hand the Fraser Valley TNT team finished 1-1 in pool “B”, second only to the Kamloops Vibe defeating the “A” pool winner Richmond by a 2-0 score in the semi-final match up 1-0 on Saturday.
Sunday’s championship game saw end to end action that proved to be fast and furious between both teams with both “tenders” playing exceptional.
Ball hockey goalie Jennifer Price played for South Fraser TNT, while Ashley Fisher was between the pipes for Kamloops with both playing exceptional for the full 60 minutes having league President Rick Kupchuk wondering if O/T would be decided to get a winner.
The opening period was scoreless through 40 minutes with both teams playing exceptional with both teams exchanging several solid scoring chances at each end of the ice.
The eventual game winner for the Vibe came near the five minute mark of the third with Alana Parker of the Vibes slipping one past TNT’s Jennifer Price giving Kamloops a 1-0 lead.
On a side-note for the Vibe’s Alana, she is also plays goalie but on this day for whatever reason she played forward.
The remainder of the period saw Fraser Valley TNT press for the equalizer but with a strong performance from Fisher the TNT came up on the short end of the stick.
Say what you want about Women’s hockey and given the uncertainty of the status of the US Women’s for the upcoming World Championship’s they play a solid game and have a “no quit” attitude.
This win gives the Vibe their 6th Provincial while in the league!!
Special “thanks” to the league for making Sportswave Bruce Nolte feel welcome for the duration of the tournament.
Oh yea – on a note from Rick – all of the Officials/Referee’s used were from the lower mainland!
