March 21, UBC Thunderbird Arena, Vancouver

In a game that mirrored the A1 Bantam championship game a night earlier, the Burnaby Winter Club Bruins and North Shore Winter Club Winterhawks faced off Thursday in a game to decide who would be the BC Champion.

Both teams had played their final round robin games earlier in the day, with BWC getting the better draw, posting a 12-0 victory over winless Prince George at 8:00 a.m. NSWC drew a much tougher Kamloops team at 11 a.m. At puck drop the two teams were tied with six points each. The Winterhawks had earned theirs on three wins and Kamloops theirs on 2 wins and 2 ties, including a 3-3 tie with BWC on day two.

In a heartbreaker for Kamloops, who battled back from a 3-1 deficit to tie the game in the third; the Winterhawks advanced to the final by virtue of the more wins tie-breaker.

Like their bantam counterparts, the two Winter Clubs had battled all year in close games, including a early season 3-3 tie that BWC captain Ilijah Colina pulled out of the fire in the closing seconds of the game with their third unanswered goal.

That first game of the season was to prove a harbinger of the final game of the season. Although the Bruins struck first this time on another goal by Colina, the Winterhawks took an early lead, on two goals by Dominic Davis, and then went ahead 3-1 on a second period goal by Jackson Shepard. But as the Bruins have proved on numerous occasions, they have a way of battling back and overcoming deficits.

Goals by Chris Douglas and Alex Pescatelli tied the game, and a fourth by Christian Buono, secured the title win. It was clear the Bruins had more left in the tank at the end of the game than the Hawks did.

Kudos to Kamloops who showed they are a top team capable of winning the BCs; and to the host Vancouver T-Birds, who lost their two games against the Winter Clubs by a single goal; and battled Kamloops to a 3-1 empty netter, proving they too have one of the top programs in BC.

Peewee A1 tournament records: