Courtesy of the Prince Albert Daily Herald
PRINCE ALBERT — Miles Warkentine had four points as the Prince Albert Venice House Pirates were crowned league champs at Kinsmen Arena.
“We’re pretty excited,” said Warkentine, whose third goal of the game Friday proved to be the game, and series, winner in the Centre-Four Hockey League best-of-three final as the Pirates defeated the Warman Wildcats 8-6 to sweep the series.
“We’re not done yet,” added the 15-year-old. “We’ve got work to do with Westerns. We can celebrate for a bit then it’s time to get back to work.”
Prince Albert captured the provincial bantam AA title earlier this month, granting them a berth in the Western Bantam Championship in Winnipeg from April 7 to 10.
The Pirates, undefeated in the regular season, also won gold at four tournaments and lost only twice during the season — to the Wildcats in the provincial round-robin series and early in the season to the Humboldt Broncos in the final of a Melville tournament.
The Melfort Mustangs also managed a pair of ties against the Pirates.
Prince Albert had won Game 1 in Warman on Wednesday 5-2 so it was a must win game for the visitors.
During the first 20 minutes it looked like both teams would hit double digits as it was 4-4 after their opening period and both starting goaltenders — Logan Morhart for the Pirates and Kyle Rahier for the Wildcats — were pulled after allowing three and four goals, respectively.
“In the first period, both teams were just not very good defensively, with just breaking down and little things in our own D-zone,” said Warkentine.
The Pirates winger gave the home side a 1-0 lead only 53 seconds into the game on a nice effort, which saw him carry the puck from behind the net into the slot and slide the puck under Rahier’s stick.
But Wildcats defenceman Ryan Pilon tied the game with a blast from inside the blueline, his first of the period, before Matthew Campese restored Prince Albert’s lead 41 seconds later.
Pilon and Ashton Clark put the Wildcats up 3-2 and Logan Schatz gave the visitors a 4-2 advantage. But Campese’s second and captain Ryan Duret added markers 22 seconds apart to tie the game.
The Wildcats took the game to Prince Albert in the second period, taking a 5-4 lead on a goal by Justice Gardipy.
“They’re a lunch bucket, hard-nosed team,” said Warkentine about Warman’s style of play.
The Pirates slowly took control as the middle frame came to an end as Warkentine put a soft backhander over Ty Keewatin’s shoulder to tie the game at 5-5.
“I think we battled hard, a couple of bad bounces for us,” said Pilon after the loss. “They played good.”
In the third, like the Pirates have done all season, they dominated and it eventually paid off as Warkentine set up Duret’s second of the night before putting his team up 7-5. But, a late power-play goal pulled the Wildcats within one. Duret capped things off with an empty-net goal at 18:42.
Pirates first-year coach Shaun Phaneuf was thrilled with the effort his team displayed in the latter stages of the game.
“I thought we had a great start, fell behind in the middle again — we kind of got caught on our heals a bit with a couple of goals that got scored on us,” said Phaneuf. “I thought we dominated the play in the third.
It’s the first time a Pirates team has won the Centre-Four trophy since 2004-2005.
"It’s the cap to a really great season for us,” Phaneuf added.
19 comments:
Congrats to the PA Pirates on their wins. But I just have to point out the recruiting & moves that led to this "dream team"; and the fact that not every team in the C4 has the capability or desire to do that kind of maneuvering to ensure wins!!
Good luck to all the BC boys trying out for their respective Zone camps next weekend. Am sure there will be many suprises!! I am really suprised with the "Dark horse" voting and who was on it and who will impact the WLH the most. I watched a kid on the list get mowed down a few weeks back.Not being rude or disrespectfull but there are several better forwards/Dmen.. Some of the kids will make an impact for sure. Some will not!!
Who do you think will make it for the Okanagan team?
Tryouts are going to be interesting cause there are b2 players tryin out. it could be hard to tell who reallly will benefit while on this team.
A few Kids will do well from the Kamloops area. They deserve it as they had a great year and have some great players. Kelowna and Westside have a couple. I know Western Elite has a kid from Vernon as a possible "dark Horse".Nice kid,good size but very weak skater not much skill..Will see how things pan out next week.
I watched the kid from Vernon and he had pretty good skill actually. He scored a hat trick when I watched. Has a good shot
I also watched the kid from Vernon. I also know that he was flattened by the big Dman from Notre Dame in Sicamous and did not return in the last game. I agree skating needs lots of work!!I wish him luck in the draft.
I saw that hit. Huge hit! I think that was the last game though
The kid that hit #10 on Vernon was #2 Boston a BC kid from Notre Dame. Hit him so hard at centre ice his mask blew off. He did not return to the ice. Yes it was the last game in the third period.
Suicide pass from Vernon player. Not #10's fault. Kid came back fine next shift.
At this point,15 yrars old.Skating is high priority.Dolibnar has miles to go .He cant do backwards cross overs yet.He will not be drafted this year,guaranteed!D man from Kelowna,Bryshun has a ton of upside. He will be a pleasant surprise from okanagan come draft day.
You are correct. Skating is a huge fundamental at this age. Perhaps in time he will develope but hasnt yet. Unorthadox skating stride for sure. No, he did not return after that hit! It was in the third. I watched him in the handshake after the game. Face mask was busted. Vernon is a weak tier 1 team. There are a few however that have potential. I wish them all luck.
Let's just see what happens come draft day and U 16 camp next weekend. It will all unfold.
In my honest opinion, this kid is pretty good. I believe he will crack the Okanagan U 16 squad even though the skating.
He got a very nice goal that game. 2 on 1 chose to shoot and snapped one top corner. I was impressed, hot was pretty big
jeez correct me if i wrong but wasnt this comments on PA? got to love the BC parents lol
Theres years of smoke and mirrors with this Vernon player. If that had not so often been at the expense of others the negative comments probably wouldn't be here.
Truth is the young man does have some big issues with skating. He can shoot a puck and he really wants to be a hockey player. After years of power skating already behind him, I think if he could correct the deficiencies, he would.
If kids are goin on to U16s, Jr. camps or exposure events, they are more and more exposed to professional coaches, managers, staticians and evaluators who have no vested interest in anything but their jobs. The effect is to separate reality from everything else. Don't sweat other peoples issues, it all works out in the end. Luck tends to favour hard work and humility in equal portion, so good luck to all!
Congratualtions to all the boys that made their Respective u16 zone camps this past weekend..Should be a great time in Kamloops!!
selection choices were biased and unfair because my son made a lowr mainland team and some of the people on their should not be on their and others should. No way 150 kids can be evaluated in 4 ice times.
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