In one of the most successful weekends for Williams Lake Minor Hockey in recent history, both the Williams Lake Tier 2 Midget Timberwolves and the Williams Lake Tier 2 Peewee Timberwolves qualified for the provincial hockey championships in March.
Both teams were facing the Prince George Cougars’ midget and peewee rep teams on Friday night and Saturday morning, and both teams won two games straight in their respective playoff series to earn provincial berths.
The Williams Lake Peewee Tier 2 team opened its playoffs with a convincing 8-2 win Friday night, before advancing to provincials Saturday morning with a 5-2 win.
The Williams Lake Midget Timberwolves earned a 6-4 win Friday, before taking a 5-1 win Saturday morning.
The last time a Midget rep team from Williams Lake qualified for a provincial championship was during the 2004/05 season. Prior to that, in 2002/03, Carey Price led Williams Lake’s AAA Midget Rep team to a provincial championship.
The last time a peewee rep team from Williams Lake qualified for a provincial championship was during the 1983/84 season.
“It’s funny, during the last game there were only two minutes left on the clock and we were up by four goals,” said midget rep coach Sheldon Nohr. “It still hadn’t sunk in. The kids were still so focused on the game until they started bailing over the boards with three or four seconds left to go on the clock.
“Once it sunk in and they all hit the ice they were pretty excited.”
Nohr said what made the weekend’s games truly memorable for his players was the number of fans who came out to support the team.
“That definitely helped us out and the kids were making comments on it and everything after the game — the fan support we got was just incredible,” he said. “That was something the kids took to heart and they thought it was pretty good to see kids they go to school with, parents and teachers there to watch. It just shows our community still has some hockey spirit in them. That puts a big feeling in a kid’s chest and it’s neat that all these people came to watch.”
The Williams Lake Midget Timberwolves will head to Salmon Arm from March 19-23 to compete at provincials.
For the Peewee Tier 2 T-wolves, their quest for a provincial championship begins the same day in Aldergrove.
“Naturally, the kids were pretty ecstatic about qualifying,” said Peewee Tier 2 head coach Owen Thomas. “It was a goal they set for themselves at the start of the year and it was on they accomplished.”
The peewee tier 2 team went undefeated over the regular season winning nine games with one tie.
“As of right now, our goal is to go down there and play our best,” he said.