The North Island Bantam Eagles travelled to Port Alberni for a Christmas break tournament, and ended up coming home with a big second place trophy.
The Eagles had their first game of the tournament against the Tier 1 Comox Valley Chiefs on Dec. 28, and they started off strong with a big 5-3 win, with goals coming from Cole Klughart, Tristan Mardell, Ethan Bono (x2), and Joey Grant.
“To beat a quality tier 1 team to open the tournament was a big boost for our group,” said coach Ryan Handley, who added their next game was Dec. 29 against the Tier 2 Juan De Fuca Grizzlies, “a team we hadn’t seen before this year, but a team we knew would be a test. They have two big goaltenders and you need traffic to beat those kids. We didn’t do a great job of that, but we were able to get a hard-fought 2-1 win.”
The Eagles two clutch goals were scored by Bono and Grant in the second period.
Handley felt the team’s goaltender, Griffin Handley, “was huge for us, making five or six big time stops - in a close game, goaltending and attention to detail is huge.”
The Eagles rested up for an afternoon game against the Kerry Park Islanders, who Handley knew would be a serious test for the group. “They have two big kids who carry their offence, we were slow to adapt early and got behind again,” Handley explained, adding, “We had a huge penalty kill midway through the third and were down 5-3 when Tristan Mardell took over. He scored a breakaway goal to make it 5-4, and we left him out as he has become a huge penalty killer for us — his speed and durability are tremendous for our team.”
45 seconds later, Mardell stole the puck and went in alone again and scored to tie the game.
“Our bench erupted and you could tell the team knew we were in control,” said Handley.
The Eagles ended up pulling off a come-from-behind 7-5 win, with goals in all three periods courtesy of Bono (x3), captain Tynan Klein-Beekman (x2), and Mardell (x2).
Handley had big praise for Mardell’s play, stating he has “done a complete 180 since I’ve first started coaching him — his skating, speed, and hands now are very good and I can see the hockey sense coming.”
The Eagles had made it to the semifinals, earning a rematch with the Grizzlies on Dec. 30. “The Semifinal was a close game again,” said Handley. “We took the lead right at the ice clean and then we talked to the team at the break and encouraged them to stick to the game plan and our system.”
Handley added the coaches “emphasized more traffic, and to go to the net with purpose. We took control early on after the clean and started to bury pucks. They got off their game and started taking penalties and our power play, which has been clipping along at about 75 per cent, is maybe one of the best in the league. When you can put Bono, Grant, Klatt, Klughart, and Klein-Beekman out on the ice it’s pretty powerful.”
The Eagles ended up hammering the Grizzlies 7-2, with goals coming from Bono (x3), Klein-Beekman, Grant (x2), and Keenan Saunders.
With their spot in the final clinched, the Eagles now had a rematch against the Chiefs. This time however, “we came out flat in the final and got down 5-1,” Handley said. “After the ice clean we outshot them 26-12 and mounted a comeback, only to fall just short.”
The Eagles ultimately lost to the Chiefs 6-4, with goals coming from Klughart, Grant, Klein-Beekman, and Tyler Roper.
Even with the loss, Handley was happy with his team’s performance all weekend.
“It was a great tournament for our group and a real confidence booster heading into the playoffs,” he said, adding he was very proud of the Eagles “compete level this weekend. Some players really stepped up for us, our leaders did what they needed to do and our goaltending was very good.”
The Eagles will be playing their final game of the season Jan. 13 in a grudge match against the Tier 1 Comox Valley Chiefs at the Doug Bondue Arena in Port Alice at 3:30 p.m.