Burnaby Minor C3 capped off a magical 2012-2013 hockey season by winning the eighth annual Burnaby Minor Spring Blast tournament held March 15 to 19.
The C3 Bulldogs had a very strong tournament, winning all four of its round-robin games and finishing in first place in its pool.
C3 then earned a spot in the finals by beating a strong Ridge Meadows team 8-4 in the semi-final.
The Yui Mak-coached team faced a familiar rival in the final - the Burnaby C5 Bulldogs coached by Paul Bartlett.
The game was extremely hard fought as the two teams faced off at the Bill Copeland arena on Tuesday March 19th.
The first period saw the two teams feel each other out with some nervous play given what was at stake. Both teams had chances to score in the first period but neither team could beat the opposing goaltender.
The second period saw the C3 Bulldogs come out with more energy and finally broke the ice getting the first goal of the game. Stefan Deteric took a feed from Ryan Corra and broke down the left wing, cutting to the net and placing a nice backhand shot to the short side.
Minutes later, Deteric scored another nice goal, cutting down the left wing and snapping a shot to the far top corner.
Burnaby C3 made the score 3-0, when Nicholas Young rushed the puck down the left wing, skating past a couple of C5 players and then feathering a nice cross-crease pass to Milan Prasad, who finished the play by banging the puck into the open net.
Burnaby C5 continued to play strong despite the score and was rewarded with a goal late in the second period when Spencer Iameo scored after a wild scramble in front of the C3 net.
With one period to go, C3 looked poised to win the championship but C5 was not done.
The C5s came out in the third period determined to get back into the game. The play went back and forth until, with 3 minutes to play, Kishan Randerwala banged in another goal again off a scrambled play in front of the C3 net and with goalie Max Shepherd unable to cover up the puck.
C5 continued its strong play and C3 was under pressure as time wound down. C5 completed the comeback with just over a minute to play when Nicola Barba scored on a wrist shot from the slot.
C3 had a chance to win it in the dying minutes of the game but could not beat C5 goalie J.P. Martino.
The game then went into a sudden death overtime with a five-minute extra period played four on four.
Both teams traded chances early and then with three minutes left C3's Goran Visekruna took a penalty. C5 appeared to have the opportunity it needed to claim the championship but C3 was very strong on the penalty kill and even generated chances to score while shorthanded.
C5 was unable to convert on the power play and the overtime period ran out without either team claiming victory.
The game now would be decided by the dreaded shootout. Each team picked three players to partake in an NHL-style shootout to determine the tournament champion. C3 decided to let C5 shoot first.
The first three shooters for both sides failed to score as both Shepherd and Martino made excellent saves to keep the outcome in doubt.
Next it was a sudden-death shootout with alternating shots. C5 shooter Ben Reil came close to scoring but the puck slid across the crease but did not enter the net.
C3's next shooter was Visekruna, who now had a chance to redeem himself for the overtime penalty he took. Visekruna skated in and beat Martino to the short side with a wrist shot from the slot. With that shootout goal C3 was crowned the atom Spring Blat champions for 2013.
This was a great year for C3 as they also captured the league and playoff banners in the Presidents league for the 2012-2013 season.
