Fans packed the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex Saturday to witness the Williams Lake Midget Timberwolves post a game-three shutout victory over the Prince George Midget Cougars to land a provincial championship berth.
The 4-0 win and the Cariboo Amateur Hockey Association championship speaks to the mental preparedness of his players, said T-wolves head coach Steve Carpenter after the team rallied from a 5-2 defeat in game two the previous Saturday to win the series.
“I think all year it’s been a little bit up and down for us and I felt Saturday, that was the best focus we’d had all year,” Carpenter said. “I wasn’t nervous before the game. You could tell the kids were in the right frame of mind and pretty pumped up.”
After a 0-0 stalemate following one period of play, Williams Lake began to capitalize on Prince George penalty trouble in the second.
Jacob Chamberlin provided the heroics scoring three goals, with Trey Thomas adding the other. Assists went to Daine DuBois, Zack Herrick, Josh Novakowski and Will Paynton.
“Jacob’s been a real emotional leader for us all year so it was really nice to see [him score the hat trick],” Carpenter said. “You can always count on him to go out and block shots and take hits, and go to the difficult areas to try to score.”
Trevor Woodward took game one’s win between the pipes, with Hayden Lyons playing games two and three.
Now, the team will prepare for the provincial hockey championships in Trail from March 15-18.
For four of the team’s players — Thomas, DuBois, Lyons and Landon Fuller — it will be their fifth time attending a provincial championship dating back to their peewee careers.
“They’re pretty hungry as far as trying to do something and go there and come back with a little bit more than a good experience,” Carpenter said. “We just have to keep focused on our game.
“If we can play like we did this past weekend I think we’ll be pretty good.”