The Port McNeill Bantam Whalers battled all weekend long at the Don Cruickshank Memorial Arena in Port Hardy, and it paid off for them as they won enough games to qualify for the tournament final against Campbell River.
In what turned out to be a real nail biter, the Whalers were down 3-2 late in the third period, when captain Matthew Datos fired the puck from the blue line and into the twine with 2:52 left in the period.
With time winding down, both teams tried to score the game winner but were unable to find the back of the net before the buzzer went, forcing the teams to solve things with a shootout, where Whalers’ goaltender Sebastian Jolliffe stopped two shots back to back to earn the comeback win as his teammates rushed the ice and mobbed him in celebration.
The Port Hardy Bantam Eagles also played in the tournament and ended up placing third after a hard fought weekend!