It was a tough finish to an incredible season for the Greater Trail Bantam Tier 2 Smoke Eaters.
The Bantam Smokies fell to East Vancouver 8-0 in the final of the Bantam Tier 2 provincial championships on Wednesday to end a great season that saw the team finish with a 40-8-9 record, in addition to winning a silver medal at the B.C. Championship.
With their first two wins of the tournament against East Vancouver, 7-5, and Campbell River, 6-5, in the round robin, the Trail Bantams secured a playoff spot, then lost a meaningless game to Prince George 5-3.
However, the Bantams came out flying in the semifnal and handily defeated West Kelowna 4-1 Wednesday morning to advance to the championship match, while East Vancouver beat the North Shore Winter Club 5-1.
But Trail just didn’t have it in the evening tilt, as the team from Hastings skated out to a 3-0 first-period lead and never looked back, cruising to the shutout victory.
In Castlegar, the Wildcats placed third in the Female Bantam provincial tournament.
Castlegar played a fast paced, exciting match against Kelowna to decide the bronze medal game on Wednesday afternoon.
After a scoreless first period, Kelowna got on the board midway through the second but Castlegar responded two minutes later. The Wildcats took a 2-1 lead but Kelowna tied it up with four minutes left in the middle frame. Castlegar netted the winner 10 seconds into the third and added another with just over two minutes left in the game to finish at 3-2 in the tournament. Kelowna pulled their goalie but were unable to score.