The Williams Lake Atom Development team was flying on the weekend — sailing to a silver medal at its home tournament.
The lakecity group of nine- and 10-year-old players narrowly missed out on the gold, falling 5-1 to Salmon Arm in the final. But, said parent and Williams Lake Minor Hockey Association president Jonathan Jackson, the kids displayed composure, teamwork, skill and hard work throughout the weekend.
The tournament, which began Friday, wrapped up with the final on Sunday at the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex.
“It’s a real team effort when those boys are all playing together,” Jackson said. “It’s been a great, successful season. Winning the silver here at our tournament is our best result in a long time.”
Williams Lake’s path to the final consisted of a 10-3 win over Dawson Creek, a 15-2 drubbing of the Prince George Leafs, a 4-2 loss to Kamloops and, finally, a semifinal thriller versus the Prince George Canucks.
Jackson said everyone inside rink two during the semifinal matchup was on their feet.
“We had them 7-5 with about four minutes to go and Prince George came back and tied it at seven,” he said. “With the rules we had it went straight to a shootout, and it was pretty drama-filled.”
There, tied 1-1 after the first two shooters on each team, Williams Lake netminder Logan Higgs stopped Prince George’s third shooter dead in his tracks, throwing out a slick poke check to give his team a chance for the win.
Moments later Williams Lake’s third shooter, Grady Thomas, plugged a wrister blocker side for the winning goal.
Tournament MVPs for Williams Lake were: Andy Berkelaar, Paul Hauk, Thomas, Lane Paddison and Jacob Jackson.
The team will now finish up its season at a tournament in Osoyoos in March.
Also coming up in Williams Lake, beginning Feb. 24, are the 2012 Cariboo Amateur Hockey League Playoffs.
The Williams Lake Tier 2 Midgets begin their quest for a provincial championship against Prince George with game one on Feb. 24, 7 p.m. at the CMRC. Game two goes Feb. 25 at 12:15 p.m.
The Williams Lake Tier 2 Bantams will play game three of its series, if needed, against Prince George on home ice. That game will go at 1 p.m. on Feb. 26.
In Peewee Tier 2 playoff action the hometown squad hits the ice at 3:45 p.m. on Feb. 24, also against Prince George. Game two of the series follows at 11 a.m. on Feb. 25.
Finally, the Williams Lake Peewee Female rep team hits the ice for its game three, if necessary, on Feb. 26 in Williams Lake.