Richmond Sockeyes are Keystone Cup Western Canadian junior B hockey champions for the second time in five years and they did it in convincing fashion.
The B.C. representative proved to be the class of the six-team event in St. Malo Manitoba concluding a dominating run with a 5-2 victory over the Saskatoon Royals in Sundays gold medal game. Richmond went 6-0 in the tournament and outscored its opponents by a whopping 44-12 margin.
Since a 4-1 game six loss to the Delta Ice Hawks back on March 16 in the Pacific International Junior Hockey League semi-finals, the Sockeyes won 15 consecutive games and three playoff titles along the way.
Celebrating their 40th season, general manager Richard Petrowsky and the clubs ownership group made all the right moves in assembling this team, including the hiring of head coach Aaron Wilbur. They had proven veterans, such as homegrown 20-year-olds Sam Chichak, Jeremy Hamaguchi, Rudi Thorsteinson and Matt Wagner, along with Scott Wessa. Petrowsky added to that group with mid-season trades for Adam Nishi and Stephen Campbell, while convincing proven sniper Jake Roder to return for his final year of junior hockey.
There was also plenty of young talent destined to move onto the next level of junior hockey including 17-year-olds Daniell Lange and Danton Heinen, along with leading scorer Dean Allison. Local product Kootenay Alder was a steady influence all season long in net.
After blasting the Royals 10-2 in round-robin play, the Keystone Cup final at least proved to be more competitive. Following a scoreless first period, the Sockeyes dominated the middle stanza, outshooting the Saskatchewan champions 24-4 and opening up a 3-0 lead on goals by Austin Adamson, Heinen and Roder.
Thorsteinson added his tournament leading 11th goal midway through the final period and Heinens second of the game closed out the scoring for Richmond.
The Sockeyes opened the tournament with a 5-3 win over Albertas Okotoks Bisons on Thursday. Hamaguchi led the way with a pair of goals, while Thorsteinson added a goal and two assists. Richmond then blasted the St. Malo Warriors 9-1 on Friday morning, outshooting the tournament hosts by a whopping 72-16 margin.
Lange and Thorsteinson each netted hat tricks. Heinen, Dean Allison and Hamaguchi also scored.
Roder led the way in the 10-2 win over Saskatoon with four points. Stephen Campbell added a hat trick. Blueliners Dominic Centis and Scott Wessa were also among the scorers.
Thorsteinson had a hat trick in a 7-3 win against Ontarios Northern Hawks on Saturday morning. He then added a pair Saturday morning as Richmond closed out round-robin play with a 8-1 rout of Mantioba champion Peguis Juniors.
B.C. teams have now won four of the last five Keystone Cups with 2012 champion Abbotsford Pilots slated to host the 2014 tournament.
