In a game of runs the Valley West Hawks had the last one and walked away with the BC Major Midget League championship on Saturday night, defeating the Cariboo Cougars 9-4 in Surrey to sweep the best-of-three championship series.
The Cougars built a 2-0 lead in the must-win game, then fell behind 4-2, before rallying to tie one more time. But it was the Hawks who made the final push scoring five times in the third period to secure the win.
Josh Maser scored a pair for the Cougars, while Williams Lake’s Trey Thomas and Jesse Pomeroy also lit the lamp.
James Malm scored four for the Hawks.
Thomas opened the scoring midway through the first on a play set up by Tyler Ho. Pomeroy on the power play gave the Cougars an early two-goal advantage, but Evanish got one back before the first period was out.
The Hawks scored three straight goals in the second to take the lead. Bruce evened the score at two, Gurney gave them their first lead of the game and Malm tallied his first of the game to make it 4-2 after two periods.
The Cougars courageously fought back, with Maser scoring twice early in the third to even the score and give Cariboo a chance to force a third game.
It wasn’t meant to be. Malm potted two more to give the Hawks the lead for good.