The Quesnel Green Gladiators jousted their way to a first-place finish on the weekend at the Williams Lake Minor Hockey Atom House Tournament.
The Green Gladiators knocked off the Prince George Atomic Devils 7-1 in the final Sunday at the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex.
The Williams Lake Flyers were the top-finishing lakecity team, placing fourth after a down-to-the-wire battle Sunday with the Quesnel Blue Thunder.
Williams Lake, with just minutes remaining, clawed within a goal of the Blue Thunder but weren’t able to even it up with an extra attacker, leaving Quesnel the 5-4 win.
Flyers goal scorers in the bronze-medal game were Cole Myers, Lochen Virk and Keon Harry with two.
The tournament, featuring a 10-team round robin Friday and Saturday with two Quesnel teams, two 100 Mile House teams, a team from Prince George and five Williams Lake teams, was ultimately a big hit, said WLMHA atom co-ordinator Geoff Price.
“I thought the tournament went really well,” Price said, adding multiple volunteers helped the tournament come together.
“Everybody seemed to have a really great time out there. There was great co-operation on everyone’s part and it was phenomenal.”
Williams Lake Da Bombs, an all-girls team, also had reason to cheer following their playoff win over 100 Mile House South Cariboo Dental, putting them in the ninth-place spot.
“That was great, seeing the girls win,” Price said. “The girls had a tough tournament and it was nice to see they won so that was cool.”
Williams Lake McDonalds owner Jim Knowles — also the tournament and division sponsor locally, was on hand Sunday morning to perform the ceremonial puck drop for the final, and presented medals to the winning teams following the game.
Next up for the Williams Lake Minor Hockey Association is its Bantam House Tournament Jan. 11-13 at the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex.