PORT HARDY — The Port Hardy Peewee Fighting Llamas may struggle in big tournaments, but they’ve certainly got Sundays dialed in.
Goalie Sarah Case stopped all three shootout attempts she faced and Josh Walkus found the net on the Llamas’ first shootout try Sunday as the peewees claimed a 2-1 shootout win over the Campbell River Eagles in the 8th-9th place game of the Port Hardy Minor Hockey peewee tournament at Don Cruickshank Memorial Arena.
A month earlier, the Llamas went winless in the round-robin portion of the Port McNeill peewee tournament before beating the host Tsunamis in the playoffs on the final day.
In Port Hardy Sunday, Port McNeill used Collin Phillip’s tiebreaking goal with 4:06 to play in the second period to claim a 5-4 win over the Campbell River Sharks in the 6th-place game.
The Tsunamis erased deficits of 1-0 and 3-1 on three goals by defenceman Thomas Symons. Phillip gave Port McNeill its first lead at 4-3 on a play initiated by teammate and fellow Port Alice skater Klyde Pausang. Pausang charged the net with a defender draped over him and sent a shot the Sharks goalie left the net to block. But the puck drifted to the slot, and the onrushing Phillip had a wide-open net for the easy tap-in.
Phillip earned the game-winner, beating one defender along the left boards and deking another before skating across the crease to deposit a backhand for the final margin.
James Bramham was the winner in goal for the Tsunamis, who brought up atom goalie Kaisha Laird for the first two days of play.
Laird backstopped a 6-5 win over the Comox Machines in Port McNeill’s tourney opener.
More results and stats appear in Scoreboard, page 14.