Three former Burnaby Minor Hockey Association players capped off a great hockey season just one win away from the Royal Bank Cup.
The three - Roshen Jaswal, Marco Romano and Matthew Vela – helped the Fort Frances Lakers of Ontario’s Superior International Junior A Hockey League to the championship final of the Dudley Hewitt Cup.
Fort Frances lost the cup final to Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League champion Soo Thunderbirds 3-2.
Romano, who played with the junior B Grandview Steelers last season, scored a pair of goals in Cup play for the Lakers, including the opening goal in a 2-1 win over the Toronto Patriots and a 6-4 victory over the Patriots in semifinal play.
Romano scored six goals and had 15 points in 28 regular-season games. He also recorded six points in the playoffs for the Lakers.
Jaswell, a 6-3 defenceman, had a pair of assists in Fort Frances’ 6-3 loss to the Thunderbirds in round-robin play.
Vela scored a game-winning goal in the first game of a six-game playoff series win over the Dryden GM Ice Dogs to win the Superior International league’s Bill Salonen Cup.
Vela, who was traded from North Vancouver in the Pacific Jr.B league in an off-season deal, garnered 29 points in league play, including 15 goals in his first season of junior A.
Fort Frances also won the regular season trophy with a record of 43-11-0-2
The Soo Thunderbirds will represent the Central conference at the Canadian Junior A championship Royal Bank Cup.
Fort Frances is a town of about 8,000 in Northwestern Ontario close to the Canada/U.S. border with Minnesota and is often dubbed “one of the coldest places in Canada”.
Current Burnaby MHA midget AAA head coach, Cleave Astle, coached all three Burnaby players and couldn’t be much prouder.
“These guys believed in themselves and travelled a long way to ‘live the dream’. They’ve become exceptional athletes and even better young men”, said Astle.
