St. Thomas More Collegiate's Darthe Capellan won a gold medal at 50 kilograms at the Canadian juvenile wrestling championships in Saskatoon this weekend.
Capellan, this year's silver medallist at the B.C. high school championships, avenged that loss with a 6-1 win over provincial champion Dave Sharma in the national boys' final.
The 5-5 Grade 11 grappler had a long road to the juvenile final, winning four straight bouts before meeting Sharma in a second straight gold-medal final.
Capellan advanced to the final following a 6-3 win over former Pan Am champion Tarin MacFayden of Tsunami in the semifinal.
"From the provincials, it was motivation to win this time," said Capellan. "I just wanted it really badly, and I guess I got it."
In the quarter-finals, Capellan edged Vancouver Island wrestler Mike Herman of Campbell River 7-4.
Capellan also scored shutout wins in the opening bouts over two other wrestlers, blanking Roland Booth of the junior Dinos 14-0 after opening the competitive division with an 80 victory over Ligrit Sadiku of the Wolfpack.
On the Sunday, Capellan qualified for the junior world championships in Serbia this summer, following a win in the FILA tournament.
"I really worked hard for this. I was really happy," Capellan said. "It was really surprising actually, but I believed in myself and I had the outcome I wanted."
STM's Kevin Marshall placed second in the cadet 85 kg FILA trials.
Three other STM students placed in the top five in girls' cadet and juvenile divisions.
Anna Benevoli finished fourth in the juvenile girls' 70 kg weight class.
Clarisse Dos Santos and Livleen Sidhu both placed fifth in their respective, juvenile 46 kg and cadet 65
The Northwest Giants were one goal and mere seconds away from a possible berth at the Telus Cup.
But chance proved not to be the friend of the six-time major midget champions following a 32 loss to the Red Deer Optimist Chiefs at the Burnaby Winter Club on Sunday.
The Chiefs came back from a 4-3 overtime loss in the opening game of the best-of-three Pacific regional championship series and then forced a Game 3 tiebreaker with a 3-2 win in double overtime at the winter club on Saturday.
"I'm disappointed. We worked so hard for it all year and we just came up short," said New Westminster forward Brandon Del Grosso, who backhanded a shot on goal in the final seconds that Anthony Conti banged at repeatedly but could not get by Alberta keeper Matt Zentner.
The regional win was the third in four years for the Red Deer squad. The Giants defeated the Alberta champs in two straight games in 2011.
Del Grosso scored the OT winner from Sam Curleigh on Friday night after the Giants scored three third-period markers.
On Saturday, Conti forced extra time with a late third-period counter, tying the contest 3-3 despite the Giants being outshot by a 4720 margin in the game.
Liam Smith of Burnaby could not be faulted on the game-winner by Ryker Leer, who spun around in the faceoff circle and wristed a high shot by the screened 17-yearold goalie.
Jackson Cressey struck first for the Giants in the Sunday decider, but Red Deer equalized later in the first period on Smith, who got his second straight start in goal.
The Chiefs then took a 2-1 lead in the final seconds of the middle frame when a defensive turnover led to a shot by Red Deer callup Chase Olson that glanced off the stick of a Giants defenceman and into an open net.
In the final period, the Giants showed the heart they've displayed all season, tying the score early on a tap-in by David Begert following a pass through the crease by Major Kaila.
Red Deer got the go-ahead marker midway through the third on a deflected shot from the point from Jordan Steenbergen.
"Everyone battled their heads off. It all came down to a couple of bounces," said Smith after the game. "It was so close.
"I'm overwhelmed. It's just hard to believe (it's over). We battled so hard, as hard as we could, and it came down to the little things - one bad bounce and that was it."
First-year head coach Clint Thornton said it was an "emotional time. "
"It wasn't so much losing the kg divisions.
Former national cadet champion Melvin Arciaga won a second-place medal at 54 kg in the juvenile boys' final following a narrow 3-1 loss to Sam Jagas of Matmen.The Burnaby South student defeated Jesse Wagner of Alberni 9-1 in the semifinals. Arciaga also posted shutout wins over Harkaran Basra and Chase Drysdale.
Jimmy Sidhu of South won a bronze medal with a 6-1 win over semifinalist Joe Migie of Grant Park in the cadet 85 kg class. Gagan Sohol finished sixth in the cadet boys' 100 kg class.
Burnaby Mountain Secondary's Kevin Joyal-Hutchings was eighth in the juvenile 100 kg and fourth in Greco-Roman.
