BANTAM TOURNEY
– St. George’s repeats as champs
The St. George’s School Saints defended their crown on Sunday afternoon at the Kinplex.
Leading tournament scorer Thomas Tien netted a hat trick to cap off a perfect run at the 46th annual Hockey Hounds Major Bantam Hockey Tournament with a 53 victory over the Calgary Edge.
“I think every individual stepped up here and we came through with an amazing win,” said Saints captain and tournament MVP Connor Levis, whose Vancouverbased squad clinched the title at last year’s tournament as well. “With this new group of teammates, it’s amazing carrying on what our team did last year.”
Tien kept his frenetic pace alive by crashing the net and jamming the opening goal past Edge netminder Daniel Hauser halfway into the first. Tien cashed in again in the dying minutes of the period to give St. George’s some insurance after 20 minutes.
But the Edge pushed their way back into the conversation when Rieger Lorenz and Josh Davies scored 95 seconds apart to erase the lead less than two minutes into the second.
St. George’s goaltender Taje Gill settled into and held off a strong push from Calgary to open the door for Andrew Cristall and William Yee to steal back a two-goal lead on a back-to-back power plays late in the second.
“We just wanted to work really hard,” said Levis. “We wanted to be a lot more physical this weekend. We knew that Alberta teams were a bit more physical so we wanted to give ourselves a bit more time and space. We got pucks to the net, we got rebounds and we all worked as one.”
Davies struck again with less than four minutes left in regulation to bring Calgary within one goal of forcing overtime, but Tien pushed the game back out of reach by completing the hat trick on a late empty-netter.
“We never gave up, even when they tied it up 2-2 in the final our team fought back,” said Tien, who posted 15 points in three group stage games. “I could not do it without my teammates. If I did not have my teammates here, I would not be here. It’s just such a pleasure to play with all these players. And how great of teammates they are — not just as players but as teammates.”
Hauser — named the tournament’s top goaltender — stopped 27 shots in the loss. Gill stopped 30 to secure the win.