The peewee A Kerry Park Islanders took the silver medal at the Comox Tier 1 Hockey Tournament on the Thanksgiving Weekend.
The Islanders lost only two games in the tournament, both against the same Nanaimo T1 team, which also happens to be the zone team for Mid Island, carrying the best players from Nanaimo, Cowichan, Port Alberni and Oceanside.
“For us to compete against this level of a team was a huge accomplishment being a T3 organization,” Kerry Park manager Raina Bennefield said.
The Islanders opened the tournament with a 7-6 loss to Nanaimo, getting a hat trick from Brandon Kendall, two goals from Brendyn VanOene and a single from Liam Downie.
Next up was Campbell River T2, which Kerry Park defeated 5-3 on goals by Kendall, Bogdan Korniyashik, Brando Purinton and Eli McKamey.
VanOene, Kendall, McKamey and Downie were joined on the scoresheet by Jace Bennefield and Milo McDonald in a 13-2 win over Sunshine Coast T3.
To close out the round robin, Kerry Park defeated Comox T1 6-5.
That led to a semifinal showdown against Ridge Meadows, won 9-2 by Kerry Park with Jacob Leamy and Mackenzie Bone doing the scoring.
The final was a rematch against the strong Nanaimo team. Bennefield and VanOene were the only Kerry Park players able to beat the Nanaimo goaltender.
The peewee A Islanders have earned a spot in Tier 1 for the 2019-20 hockey season, and head coach Darren VanOene is excited to see what the team can do after the impressive result in Comox.
“This is a huge accomplishment for these kids and all of the coaches are very proud of them,” he said.