Seafair Atom A2 Islanders hockey team captured its second tournament of the season, this time taking the Hollyburn New Year's Classic.
The Merv Taylor coached squad got off to a tough start but got stronger with every game en route to the title. After opening round-robin play with a loss and a tie, Seafair was in a must-win situation against Vancouver Minor A1 just to be part of the playoff equation.
The team came through with a 5-1 win then received help from North Vancouver A2 to advance to the playoff round based on a better goals against average.
In the semi-finals, the Islanders defeated division rival Hollyburn A1 5-2 which then setup a rematch with Vancouver Minor A1 for the championship.
The final game was tense and Vancouver had Seafair on its heels in the earlier going and managed to open the scoring. It didn't take long for the coaches to regroup the team, settle down the nerves, and the Islanders to find their skating legs. The comeback was on and then some as the locals rolled off five unanswered goals to win in convincing fashion.
The team includes: Garret McLeod, Dylan Tsang, Ethan Riesterer, Travis Lin, Henry Smith, Grace Wallace, Tate Taylor, Josh Hikida, Thomas Tien, Kage Palla, Kyle Hepburn, Dominic Passalacqua-Main, Tova Henderson, Eithan Grishin, Davis Sato, Cailey Wong and Jacob Rausch.
Rounding out the coaching staff are Dan Wallace and Dennis Sato. The team manager is Ed Tien.
