A pair of North Shore elite hockey squads took on prairie foes during Canadian regional competitions over the weekend with each coming up just short of their golden goals.
The Vancouver North West Giants, a team made up predominantly of players from North and West Vancouver, fell to the Red Deer Optimist Chiefs for the second straight year in the Pacific Regionals.
The Giants, five-time defending B.C. Major Midget League champs, battled the Chiefs, defending Telus Cup national champions, tooth and nail in a hard fought three-game series at Burnaby Winter Club April 5-7. The Giants drew first blood in the series, scoring in the last minute of the third period to send game 1 into overtime and then winning 4-3 on a goal by Brandon Del Grosso. Game 2 Saturday also was deadlocked at three following regulation time but this time it was the visitors who prevailed, scoring the winner in double overtime to set up a third and deciding game.
In the final matchup Red Deer scored on a bouncing, long range shot with less than 10 minutes left in the game to break a 2-2 tie. The Giants pushed for an equalizer but couldn't pull off another comeback. The win will allow the Chiefs to head back to the Telus Cup to defend their title.
Though the Giants ended their season with a loss there were plenty of highlights along the way, including a championship win at the prestigious Mac's Midget AAA Tournament in Calgary, a stellar 34-2-4 record in regular season play and a thrilling two games to one win over the Okanagan Rockets in the BCMML championship series.
One age group down, the North Shore Winter Club's Bantam A1 team battled all the way to the final at the 2013 Western Canadian Bantam AAA Championship in Kindersley, Sask., before falling to Edmonton's SSAC Southgate Lions in the gold-medal game.
The Winterhawks scored victories over the host West Central Wheat Kings, the Winnipeg Hawks and Saskatchewan's Prairie Storm before falling 3-2 to the Lions in their final round robin game. Their 3-1 record, however, earned them a rematch in the final but the Lions came out on top again, scoring a 5-3 win to claim the regional title.
The Hawks earned a berth in the Western Canadian championships with a last-minute victory over Burnaby Winter Club in the bantam Tier 1 provincial championship game.
