Team B.C. won the gold medal at the Western Canada under-16 Challenge Cup hockey tournament for the first time.
Northwest Giants Jansen Harkins scored four goals, including a first-period hat trick, in a five-point player-of-the-game performance in the gold-medal final to lead B.C. to a decisive 93 victory over Alberta in the championship game in Calgary on Sunday.
Taz Burman of Vancouver turned aside 33 shots to backstop the win for the West Coasters.
Chaz Reddekopp of Kelowna and Burnaby Winter Club product Matthew Barzal were named to the Challenge Cup all-star team.
B.C. opened the competition with a 4-3 win over Alberta in a shootout. Harkins tallied the only goal in the penalty-shot portion of the game after B.C. rallied in the final period to send the game to a shootout. Barzal scored B.C.'s second and third goal of the period in the win.
On Day 2 of Challenge Cup play, B.C. defeated Saskatchewan 4-1 with Burnaby Minor midget A1 centre Marcus Vela tallying the game-winner in a three-goal B.C. third period.
"When I scored, the feeling and emotion and the atmosphere with my teammates, it was really cool," said Vela, who played on a line with Burnaby Winter Club product Justin Szeto and Surrey's Jake Fletcher.
B.C. also defeated Manitoba 5-2 on Harkins' middle-period marker on Saturday to advance to the final as the No. 1 seed.
"We had this feeling before the game that it was going to be a really good game for us," Vela said of the gold-medal final.
"We did it. We brought home the gold. It was a very good feeling, a really good experience."
New Westminster D-man Ty Schultz, of the B.C. major midget league Vancouver Canadians, also played for B.C.
