U16 National Championships – Day 4 Update

Day 4 at the U16 National Championships in Calgary, Alberta had 5 games on the schedule. Deemed semi-final Saturday, 4 boy’s teams and 4 girl’s teams were competing for a spot in Sunday’s Championship games. With one of the closest playing field at a U16 National Championship in recent years, it was truly anyone’s tournament in both the boys and girl’s competition.

The first game of the day pitted Quebec and Ontario Red in a consolation game that moved the winner into the bronze medal match. Ontario Red opened the scoring in the 35^th minute on a penalty corner right at the horn for halftime as Harsimran Dhugga ripped a drag flick past the Quebec keeper. Quebec was able to equalize through a penalty stroke by Flynn McCulloch after a foot on the goal line. Three minutes later Noah Loomis put Quebec ahead 2-1. The victory for Quebec put them through to the Bronze medal match against Ontario White

In match 2 Alberta played Ontario White in the men’ semi-final. The game was very back and forth with both teams going for goal often and early. Alberta was able to open the scoring in the 8^th minute through Tanver Kullar. They then went on to score in the 11^th, 23^rd and 33^rd minute to take a 4-0 lead into the half. Ontario White was able to find the scoreboard in the 43^rd minute with a well worked penalty corner by Jeremie Fradette-Roy. It was not enough as Albert was able to win the match 7-3. They will now face BC Blue in the gold medal match.

Match 3 was a girl’s consolation match that brought together BC White and Quebec. BC White had most of the offensive pressure as Quebec had to play some strong defense. At half the score was tied at 0-0. In the second half Quebec was able to find some offensive pressure of their own which caused the game to become more free flowing. Both goalkeepers played strong and kept their teams in the game. The match finished at 0-0.

In the first girl’s semi-final, Ontario White lined up against Ontario Red. With Ontario bragging rights on the line, as well as a spot in the gold medal match, both teams came out flying. Ontario Red’s Samantha McCrory opened the scoring in the 10^th minute to make the score 1-0. McCrory went on to score two more goals for a hat trick. Ontario Red took the match 4-0 and will BC Blue in the final.

The final game of the day had the home town Alberta girls taking on BC Blue for the final spot in the girls Championship game. With a large crowd behind them, the Alberta girls were able to stand strong and hold off the attack of BC Blue. In the 39^th minute Allison Kuzyk was finally able to beat the Alberta keeper, Kimberly Scott, for the first goal of the match. BC Blue was than able to score again the 49^th and 51^st minute to go ahead by 3. The score stood at 3-0 meaning BC Blue will face off against Ontario White for the U16 Girls National Championship.

Schedule for tomorrows matches – Sunday July 24^th  

 8:30am Girls Cons – BC Yellow vs BC White

10:15am Boys Bronze – Ontario White vs Quebec

12:00 Girls Bronze – Ontario White vs Alberta

1:45pm Girls Gold – BC Blue vs Ontario Red

3:30pm Boys Gold – BC vs Alberta