BC Blue Sweeps Senior Nationals Gold
July 3, 2011
It was a BC Blue day today as both the Men’s and Women’s BC Blue teams earned bragging rights at the 2011 Senior National tournament. Earlier in the day, the Ontario Red women defeated the BC White women for the bronze. That 2-1 win came off a series of shots and a bit of chaos in front of the BC White net but nonetheless, sealed the deal in the first over-time. The Bronze medal match for the men also went to over-time with the Canadian Junior boys defeating the BC White men’s team 1-0.
The highly anticipated Gold medal matches began with the women’s games: BC Blue vs the Canadian Junior Women. The game was packed with action with the speed and skill of the juniors matched up against the strength and experience of the BC Blue women. It appeared almost as if Canada was about to get on the board first as Hannah Haughn rang a reverse stick shot underneath of the cross bar and down near the goal line. The umpire decisively said, "play on" as the ball did not cross the line. Later, the BC Blue team was able to settle in and a goal by Nicky Graham got BC Blue on the board. The 1-0 score at half-time was enough for the Juniors to come out firing. BC Blue managed to capitalize on a free play goal by Crystal Poland and a Penalty Corner goal by Stephanie Jameson. The final score was 3-0 for BC Blue but the action was end to end!
The final match of the day was a face-off between BC Blue and Ontario. In pool play, Ontario convincingly defeated BC Blue thanks to a hat trick from Gabbar Singh. It was not the case today as the teams played a close game with the score remaining at 2-1 for Ontario fro the majority of the game. Mark Pearson was able to put a low reverse stick shot in the back of the net to tie it up at 2-2. Later, a great individual effort by Gordie Johnson down the right side saw the ball lifted effortlessly into the back of the net. The final score remained a 3-2 for BC Blue to close out a BC gold medal sweep at the 2011 Senior National Championships.
