It was reunion day during the finals of the annual Port McNeill Minor Hockey Association’s atom hockey tournament at Chilton Regional Arena Sunday.
After two days and 15 round-robin games to sort out the matchups for Sunday’s playoffs, host Port McNeill found itself matched with local rival Port Hardy in the 9th-10th place game. Another final pit the tourney’s two Campbell River teams, and the two Oceanside entries, the Predators and Red Wings, met for the championship of the 10-team tournament.
Port McNeill and Port Hardy tied 4-4 in the day’s first game. With limited time available for the five finals, no overtime or shootout could be held to break the tie.
Kaisha Laird had two goals and Kristopher Jolliffe and Clayton Bono also scored for Port McNeill. Nigel Walkus had two goals to pace Port Hardy, with Bree-Ann Henderson and David Charlie scoring once each.
The first career goal of Steven Martynyk highlighted Port Alice’s 10-7 win over Gold River in the seventh-place game. The diminutive Martynyk, a novice playing up a division to help fill out the atom roster, was mobbed by teammates after his goal, which helped avenge a 6-5 loss to Gold River in the first round and gave Port Alice its second win of the tourney.
Justin Sexton and Alec Schmidt each scored hat tricks in the win, and Becca Spafford and Tiffany Watson added goals in the victory.
The Oceanside Predators edged the Oceanside Red Wings 3-2 for the tournament title. In the third-place game, the Hawks topped the Eagles 4-2 in a matchup of Campbell River clubs. In the fifth-place contest, Alberni Valley shaded Comox, 7-6.