After a slow start to the tournament, the U15A Kerry Park Islanders came back to win the Larry Orr Memorial Eagle Cup hosted by the Peninsula Minor Hockey Association over the Thanksgiving weekend.
The Islanders dropped their first two games, but bounced back with a one-sided win over the host team, then plowed through the playoffs to take home the hardware.
After a 6-3 loss to Sooke and a narrow 5-4 loss to Victoria, the Islanders found their mojo in a 9-1 win over Peninsula. The offence flowed through Caleb Eror, who potted four goals, including the game winner, while Mackenzie Bone had two, and Logan Jones, Jace Bennefield and Matyas Martinink scored one apiece.
As manager Anthony Bone pointed out, Sunday’s mission was win or go home and have turkey dinner.
The semifinal was a rematch of the close round-robin game against Victoria, but the Islanders turned the tide this time and led 4-0 after the first period on two goals by Eror and one each from Brando Purinton and Addison Urquhart. Claira Philp had an excellent outing in net, and came within five minutes of recording the shutout before Victoria scored their one and only goal of the game.
The final was another rematch as Kerry Park took on the Sooke team that finished atop the standings in the round robin. The Islanders came out with quick goals by Ethan Boomer and Bone, but Sooke came back with two in the first five minutes of the second to take the shutout away from William Kozoriz. Walker Gill restored the Islanders’ lead two minutes later, breaking open the floodgates as Kerry Park rolled to an 8-2 victory. Urquhart and Roan Bleackley both scored twice down the stretch, and Bennefield had one goal.
“Proud of every single one of these kids,” head coach Phil Downie gushed. “They earned this win.”