It was a win they can hang their hats on.
But members of the Burnaby Winter Club Academy Bruins’ bantam prep program know it’s just the beginning.
The BWC Bruins secured its first tournament title Saturday with a thrilling 2-1 overtime win over the Yale Hockey Academy in the Pat Quinn Classic AAA bantam elite division final at Bill Copeland Arena.
The win capped a tremendous weekend for the Burnaby club, which also won the peewee elite division title (see sidebar story below).
“At the beginning of the year I was talking with (assistant coach) Jordie Jones and we felt if we could make it to the semifinals in some tournaments we’d be doing well,” remarked head coach Leland Mack. “To win it here (in Burnaby) is a real nice accomplishment.”
That they had to beat the No. 1 prep program in B.C. was just another layer of achievement for the first-year Canadian Sport School Hockey League club.
Burnaby took the lead with five minutes left in the second period, when 13-year-old defenceman Eshan Barha rifled a two-zone pass to a sprinting Keean Fisk, who deked past goaltender Liam Vanderkooi for the game’s first goal.
The play up to that point had been balanced, but the Valley squad held a solid edge in shots, as they did in size.
Both teams had struck iron prior to that, with Jake Chaisson getting stymied by Burnaby netminder Thomas Milic moments before banging one off the post, while Burnaby native Tyler Schweitzer had the Winter Club’s best scoring opportunity, when his shot hit the crossbar.
In the third period, Yale squared things up on defenceman Graham Sward’s shot from the point that got past Milic.
The Coquitlam goalie foiled both Ashton Taylor and Chaisson late in the period to guide Burnaby into the extra session, where Brandon Lisowsky provided the heroics.
The 13-year-old forward wired the puck past Vanderkooi with just 47 seconds gone in overtime to give Burnaby the tourney title – and its first win over Yale in four attempts.
“(Teammate Elias) Carmichael just got checked and I followed the rebound and shot it,” said Lisowsky, who attends Burnaby Central Secondary. “I just wanted to get (the shot) off and then change up. (The goal) just happened.”
The rivalry between the two programs has always been strong, noted Mack, who last year coached BWC’s Elite 15s. But in head-to-head play this year, the results were 5-0, 4-1 and 4-2, all in Yale’s favour.
“First time we played them at home, the first game of the season, we lost 5-0,” recalled Lisowsky. “That showed us what it was all about and we needed to play way better than the first game. We played them again in the Chilliwack tournament. We did OK, and we bounced back this game and played really well.”
Mack said the difference was another stand-up performance from Milic, who has risen to the challenge ever since starting goalie Mason Dunsford suffered an injury in November, and the checking of Yale’s top offensive threat.
“I think overall they probably out-played us (in the final),” he noted. “But (Milic) really played well and we knew we had to watch (Logan) Stankoven, and I thought we did a good job of shutting him down.
“What was really neat was it was five-on-five for 61 minutes. There were no penalties, and no instances where it was like (the officials) missed one. There was lots of flow.”
Yale’s powerhouse offence, led by snipers Kobe Verbicky and Stankoven, had lashed rival defences for 43 goals over six games leading up to the final. Among the tourney’s top-eight scorers, six were from Yale’s lineup, with Stankoven and Verbicky racking up nine goals and seven assists each.
The Bruins top scorers were Caedan Bankier, Keean Fisk, Adam Grenier and Finlay Williams, each with eight points.
In the semifinal, the Bruins defeated Victoria-based Pacific Coast 5-2, thanks to a two-goal effort from Maxim Borovinskiy.
They started the tourney with a 3-3 draw with Delta Hockey Academy Green, before reeling off wins over Rocky Mountain (4-3), Shawnigan Lake (5-0) and Delta Academy White (4-0). Burnaby launched the playoff round with a 4-3 victory over Okanagan.
Milic was selected the tourney’s top goalie, while Sward was named the top defenceman. St. George’s Trevor Wong was chosen the tourney MVP, after tallying 10 of his team’s 22 goals.
The Burnaby Bulldogs, meanwhile, wrapped up the bantam AAA division with a 2-2-1 record, dropping their playoff match 6-1 to Seattle.
Marcus Jantzen led the offence over five games, scoring once and setting up six others. Stefan Deretic was the team’s top sniper, with five goals, while Nicola Barba counted four.
CRISTALL COUNTS PAIR IN PEEWEE WIN
With his second straight goal, Burnaby Winter Club peewee captain Andrew Cristall secured his team the Pat Quinn Classic peewee elite title in a 3-2 overtime victory over the North Shore Winter Club.
Cristall, voted the tourney MVP, counted his first of the game late in the second period, after Nico Grabas had given North Shore a 2-1 lead. Burnaby’s leading sniper clinched it just 3:56 into extra time with his ninth of the tourney.
Burnaby advanced to the final with a 3-0 shutout over the Victoria Racquet Club, with goals from Dylan Emerson and Cristall, with a pair.
They finished the tourney with a 5-0-1 record.
Cristall picked up the tourney top scorer award, while Kamloops’ Sawyer Mynio earned the top defenceman award, and Victoria’s Liam Hallett was voted the top goaltender.
