Make it two in a row.
The Burnaby Winter Club Bruins came and conquered last week, dominating the competition at the Western Canadian AAA bantam hockey championships in Warman, Sask.
Led by defenceman Ryan Helliwell, the Bruins lambasted the Sask Valley Vipers 9-2 in the championship final, with the highly-skilled Helliwell scoring three goals. Also registering a hat trick and two assists was Kyler Kovich.
Burnaby led the host team 3-0 after 20 minutes, and outscored the Vipers 4-1 in the second period.
While the final was one-sided, there were plenty of challenges for the squad in the tournament, head coach John Batchelor said.
“It was an outstanding accomplishment for the kids, and they played really, really well,” he said. “During the round robin (portion) we had three games in like 22 hours. ... We changed up our gameplan, not necessarily conserving energy but using it differently. Once we got to the final we got back to our usual style.”
It was another undefeated run for the squad, as they finished the round robin portion of the tournament a perfect 4-0.
Kalen Szeto averaged three points a game to lead all scorers, while Kovich counted a tournament-high seven goals. Netminder Koen MacInnes posted a .950 save percentage.
First-year Trevor Wong was a strong contributor on the team’s first line.
The squad finished the season with only one loss – an overtime defeat – and 38 victories.
It was the Bruins’ sixth Western Canadian title over 17 seasons.
