2017 National Championships: Day 2

It was another roasting hot, jam-packed day of hockey at Tamanawis Fields in Surrey, B.C. as the 2017 National Championships played on. The U15 teams entered further into pool play under the beating sun as the U18 teams took advantage of some practice time on the fields midday.

The U15 Girls B.C. Stags opened play against Ontario Central. B.C. came out early in the 7^th minute with a goal from Chloe Langkammer to ensure the Stags took the lead. Langkammer answered her own goal late in the first half before halftime to solidify their lead to 2-0. With a green and yellow card late in the second half, Ontario couldn’t capitalize before the Stags scored another goal, leaving the score 3-0 for B.C.

In the second game of the day the U15 Girls Quebec team challenged the B.C. Royal Lions in a relatively clean match up. B.C. team captain Isabella Ahern put away two goals to help her team rise 3-0 over Quebec.

The Boys U15 games opened up with Quebec vs Ontario East in a tight, back and forth, exciting game, that saw multiple chances in the second especially for Quebec, but the team couldn’t quite capitalize, so the scoreboard was stuck at a 2-2 tie by the time the last whistle blew.

In a high scoring battle between neighbouring provinces the U15 Boys B.C. Rams took on Alberta in the mid morning. B.C. quickly chalked up the scoreboard in the first to ensure their lead going into the second 4-0. Harvir Malhi had a rocket of a game scoring a hat trick and teammate Avjot Buttar close behind with two goals. As time ran out, the score sat at 7-0 for the Rams.

In the midday sun the U15 Ontario Central and the BC Lions Boys teams battled it out with Ontario coming out with the early 3-0 lead going into halftime. Mankirat Rai with Ontario earned a hat trick in the second half with teammate Randeep Randhawa joining him for his own hat trick as well. BC tried to battle back with a late goal from Eric Holscher but the team couldn’t rally against Central’s big lead, and the game finished with the scoreboard sitting at 8-1 for Ontario Central.

The top two seeds of the U15 Girls Pool B played each other midday when Ontario West took on the B.C. Rams in a relatively tight game. The B.C. Rams took the win 2-0 to put them on top of Pool B with 6 points.

Alberta and Ontario East of the U15 Girls tournament took on each other late in the afternoon in a tight game that saw up and down field action. The first goal was a near opportunity for Ontario only to have Alberta hit a long ball down the field for a breakaway opportunity that resulted in a short corner. A foul in front of the net had Jasdeep Silvia take a penalty flick to which she banked top left. Ontario managed to tie it up, but right before the end of game whistle blew Alberta banked a goal to ensure their 3-2 win over Ontario East.

Heading into the evening, the top seed from Pool A of the U15 Girls tournament, the B.C. Lions played bottom ranked Ontario Central in a match where the White Lions came out early. BC scored two goals in the first, but a smattering of green card mistakes by Ontario Central gave the BC the edge to leave the game with a 4-0 win.

For the late evening games ,the U15 Boys came back to the pitches when Alberta faced off versus Ontario East. Ontario East came out strong with a goal in the first 5 minutes and held that lead for the better part of the half, but Alberta managed to ensure they headed into the second half a better chance when team Captain Pardeep Sandhu banked a goal in the dying seconds of the first half. In the second, Ontario East responded with two more goals before leaving everything on field taking the game 3-1.

In the second last game of the evening, the two top teams in the U15 Boys pool challenged each other for top place. Ontario Central and the B.C. Rams battled it out in a physically demanding, rough game which saw the B.C. Rams ensure a lead two minutes in by a goal from Sumeet Kular. The Rams built on their lead throughout the game and when the final whistle blew the score was 4-0 for B.C.

The final game of the night saw Boys B.C. Lions challenge Quebec. Issac Farion of Quebec led the charge loading up a hat trick for himself, and leading his team to a 4-0 victory over the home team.

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