Two lakecity hockey teams will compete for a provincial championship in March.
Both the Williams Lake Peewee Tier 2 Timberwolves and the Williams Lake Bantam Tier 2 Timberwolves punched their tickets to the championship Saturday after sweeping both of their respective playoff series’ two games to nothing.
The Peewee T-wolves’ path to the Cariboo Amateur Hockey Association title came following a 7-6 shootout thriller Friday and a 7-3 effort Saturday against Prince George.
By the end of the first frame Friday things weren’t looking good for the peewee club. After falling behind 4-0 through one period Williams Lake poured it on in the second, scoring five goals to send the game deadlocked at 5-5 heading into the final frame.
Williams Lake took a brief 6-5 lead, but Prince George answered back with two minutes left.
After overtime solved nothing it came down to a shootout. There, Williams Lake netminder Hayden Lyons stopped all three shooters and Trey Thomas scored the only goal to propel the T-wolves to a 7-6 win. The shootout winner followed a big game for Thomas who, prior to scoring the winner, had already potted a hat trick in the contest.
Also scoring in the win for Williams Lake were William Paynton with a goal and three assists, Cody Swan and Dawson Billyboy.
Saturday, both teams took to the ice in Williams Lake again. This time after one period, for Williams Lake, there wasn’t any doubt.
The hometown squad took a commanding 7-1 lead into the second frame and finished up with a 7-3 win.
Scoring were Brett Alexander (2-1-3), Paynton (1-3-4), Dane DuBois (1-1-2), Lane Wycott, Trey Thomas and Dawson Billyboy.
The peewee club will now head to Penticton from March 18-22 to play for the title.
The Williams Lake Bantam Tier 2 Timberwolves played their zone play downs Friday and Saturday in Prince George against the Prince George Bantam Tier 2 Cougars.
The Cougars earned the host city after taking first in the CAHA season.
Friday, the Bantam T-wolves picked up a huge 3-2 win in double overtime. T-wolves player Colton Thomas tied the game at 2-2 with five minutes to play and scored the overtime winner. Also scoring in the win was Spencer Thomas, with assists going to Justin Bond and Justin Hansen.
Jaxon Nohr was between the pipes in the win for Williams Lake.
Game two Saturday saw the Cougars storm out of the gates, scoring a goal on the game’s first shift.
Fortunately for Williams Lake, Thomas started out right where he left off the previous night, tying the game 1-1 just two minutes later. Following that, Williams Lake took a 2-1 lead when Chase DuBois found the twine still early in the first.
In the second period Brendan Lane lit the lamp and Zach Herrick potted a shorthanded goal to propel the T-wolves to a comfortable 4-1 lead heading into the final frame. There, Justin Bond and DuBois added insurance markers and Williams Lake took a 6-1 CAHA title win.
The Bantam Tier 2 Provincials will be held in Trail from March 18-24.
For other lakecity rep teams — the Williams Lake Tier 2 Midget T-wolves, the Williams Lake Bantam Tier 3 T-wolves and the Williams Lake Peewee Female T-wolves — who were also playing for a spot at provincials — the weekend ended in disappointment.
After winning game one on home ice 1-0 the Williams Lake Midget Tier 2 T-wolves lost 4-2 at home Saturday, and then 6-0 in Prince George Sunday to be eliminated.
The Bantam Tier 3 T-wolves were beaten in two games by the Quesnel Thunder, and the Peewee Female T-wolves — after some tough luck in a 3-2 overtime loss to Prince George Saturday — fell 3-1 later in the day.