2017 National Championships: Day 3

Day 3 of the 2017 National Championships was another busy day of hockey, featuring a little less sun but the same amount of fun! The U15 Boys and Girls tournament entered the final rounds of pool play tom fight for the top spots in their pools before crossover pool play begins in Day 4. Meanwhile, the U17 competition kicked off their first games of Nationals 2017. The day started with some heavy rain, but the skies cracked open to allow a mix of sun and cloud for most of the afternoon which made for some perfect playing weather later in the day.

Matches were kicked off by the top two teams of Pool A in the U15 Girls tournament – an inter-provincial face off between the B.C. Stags and the B.C. Lions in the pouring rain. The change of weather would have been thought a relief from the previous days, but the elements provided a tough environment for the girls to work through. But they did, and the White Lions stickhandled their way to a 2-0 win with goals from Gurnaz Grewal and Taylor Katsube.

The U18’s made their tournament debut today as they kicked off their competition. The first U18 game saw the Women’s Albertan team take on the B.C. Rams from Pool A where the Rams didn’t hold back, and unleashed an onslaught of goals to finished it up 7-0. Both Sanehpreet Basra and Leina Dueck came away with two goals to their name.

The next game went back to the U15 age group where Ontario East and Central battled it out for provincial bragging rights. In a super tight, clean game neither team managed to come out on top as the teams tied 0-0 by the end of the game.

The U15 Boys were up next with Alberta and the B.C. Lions squaring off. The Lions came out firing early with a goal a mere two minutes in from Eric Holscher. The game stayed that way for the majority of the match, but with 15 minutes to go in the second, Harshdeep Gill managed to bank the ball into the back of the net to solidify their 2-0 win.

Mid morning the U18’s Men’s competition was sparked with Quebec taking on the B.C. Rams. In an exciting game that was tied 1-1 for most of the first half, the second saw the B.C. Rams open up and fall into a groove- hitting the back of the net four more times to win with a final score of 5-1. B.C. Rams team captain backed a total of two goals to help his team earn the game.

Ontario East and the B.C. Rams from the U15 Boys division was a close matchup that saw the score bounce back and forth the majority of the game, until a goal off a penalty corner from Ravi Bhindi put team Ontario on top, winning by the small margin of 4-3.

Heading into the afternoon Ontario West and the B.C Royal Lions U15 Girls teams squared off in another tight game. The Lions came out in the first two minutes with a goal from Isabella Ahern, which was answered in a Penalty corner goal from Ontario’s Ella Murphy late in the first. The game stayed tied for the remaining second half until in the dying minutes, Hallie Wedge of Ontario West, managed to bank a goal to ensure her team the 2-1 win.

Next up was the U15 Boys Ontario Central team versus Quebec. Ontario proved to be a hard match with back to back goals from Jasandeep Athwal in the eighth and ninth minute to ensure an early lead. Jaiharsh Brar added to the lead to make the score 3-0 heading into halftime. The scoreboard sat like that until midway through the second when Randeep Randhawa scored off a penalty corner. With a minute to go Quebec was granted a penalty corner and Issac Farion managed to light up the scoreboard but wasn’t enough as the final whistle blew, leaving the score 4-1 for Ontario Central.

Pool B of the U15 Girls was back in the office as Team Quebec and the B.C. Rams took each other on. The B.C. Rams walked away with a 7-0 victory even though they had some problems with their short corners early on. They fell into their groove with lots of players scoring, but most notably two goals each from Allison Kuzyk and Kate Rogers.

Ontario was contested over an inter-provincial match up that pitted Ontario West and the Ontario Select team of Pool A against one another. Ontario West came out early scoring two goals from Women’s National Team athlete Jordyn Faiczak and goals to follow from Katie Lynes and Sophie Schmidt. The early lead proved difficult to fight back from and after the second half three more goals were added to the scoreboard for the West, leaving the final score at 6-0.

Rounding four o-clock, the B.C. Stags challenged team Alberta from the U15 division. The Stags came out firing on all cylinders and lit up the scoreboard within the one minute mark from a goal by Elle Nelson. Birkley Anderson answered her teammates goal, putting the Stags up 2-0 before the half, and that’s the score the game finished with.

The U18 Women’s tournament continued into the PM as Ontario Central and the B.C. Lions squared off in a Pool B battle. The game was tight – the B.C. Lions managed to put a speedy goal in at the four-minute mark, but close 1-0 lead remained that way the majority of the game, making this match up a real nail biter. Late in the game Jaslan Stirling managed to finish off a penalty corner and converted it into a goal, ensuring her team took the tie.

The U18 Men then stormed the field as Ontario and Alberta matched up in another tight game. Lots of cards were handed out on both sides, and Jagpreet Singh of Ontario lead his team to a win settling two goals and leaving the game sitting at 2-1.

In what turned out to be a total blowout, the U18 B.C. Stags took on Ontario East and took home the win thanks to Jenna Berard’s hat trick and other notable goalscorers Janet Dawson and Kyla Toljander with two each, to carry the B.C. to win 10-0.

The last game of the evening featured the U18 Men’s team Quebec and the B.C. Lions. It was a tight matchup that saw the Lions hold a lead for most of the game. A goal from Jason Dhaliwal two minutes in, was left unanswered until a penalty corner in the dying seconds of the game gave Quebec the chance they needed to square it up. And Quebec capitalized on that opportunity with a goal from Daniel Nahir to leave the final score at 1-1.

Day 4 of the 2017 Nationals (tomorrow) will see the Women’s U23 kick off their tournament in the evening, continuous play from the U18’s and the U15’s entering cross-pool play in the semi0finals between the first and second placed teams in their respective pools as well a third and fourth.

Friday night will also be the evening of the Championship Social where the Tournament 11 Awards will be handed out for both the U15 Boys and Girls. A banquet dinner, drinks, a DJ and dancing! See you all there at 6:30PM at the Pacific Inn, Surrey.

For the full tournament schedule, click here.

For more photographs from Day 3 head over to our Facebook page.