The Richmond Ravens Peewee C1 team girls hockey team won its division at the recent Fire on Ice Tournament in Penticton.
The Ravens defeated the host Penticton Ice Dragons 4-3 in a hotly-contested championship game.
Richmond was dominant in earlier preliminary round games, defeating Tri-Cities, Merritt and Penticton by a cumulative score of 34-1. However, the team knew its rematch with the hosts in the final would be a challenge. The Ice Dragons were motivated and featured a strong team of players who had been selected from Penticton, Naramata, Osoyoos and Summerland.
Behind the strong play of goaltender Sophie Metz, the Ravens jumped to a 3-0 lead after two periods on goals by Jenna So, Jaena McGarrigle, and Isabelle Chai.
After Penticton cut into the deficit, the eventual game-winner was scored by captain Makenna Kusec. Two goals late in the final period by the Ice Dragons made for an exciting finish but Richmond emerged victorious.
“The kids all played great and worked hard as a team” stated head coach Ryan Roper, who was helped on the bench by assistants Martin Bollo, Jennifer McGarrigle and Brian Yamanaka.
In addition to the goal scorers, all of the other team members had a strong tournament. They included Katie Bollo, Tamara Dee, Kristina Doray, Ella May Dunn, Sydney Neilson-Anderson, Shayna Roper and Caeli Yamanaka.
