The Sunshine Coast U13 Blues and the South Okanagan U13 team topped their respective pools at the BC U13 provincial hockey championship on Tuesday at the Trail Memorial Centre.
The Blues shut out the Greater Trail U13 Jr. Smokies 4-0 to go 5-0-0 in Pool B, while Trail finished second with a 3-1-1 record and a berth in the playoff.
In Pool A, South Okanagan defeated Whitehorse, 5-2, in its final game to go undefeated with a 4-0-0 record. Mission secured second place with a victory over Whitehorse early Tuesday to improve to 3-1-0.
The Blues went up 1-0 just 20 seconds into the game when Lucas Lekakis stole the puck at the blue line, and walked in and wired a shot top shelf on the Trail goalie.
Despite a solid second period from the Smokies, they couldn`t beat Blues goalie Owen Hurlbut.
The score remained 1-0 until 13:49 of the third period when Blake Gibson banged in a rebound for a 2-0 lead.
Jaden Wingfield added an insurance marker with less than five minutes to play, and Gibson iced it with an empty net goal for the 4-0 final.
In U15 action in Osoyoos, the Jr. Smokies fell 10-0 to Newestminster on Tuesday and will play Kelowna U15 Rockets later today (Wednesday, March 23) at 10:30 a.m..
In U18, Trail bounced back from a 4-0 loss Monday to South Delta, with a 2-1 victory over Peninsula to improve to 2-1-0.
The win sends the U18 Smokies to the semifinal match against Hollyburn Country Club today at 10:45 a.m.
The Trail U13 team will play South Okanagan in the semifinal today, (Wednesday, March 23) at 5 p.m. while Mission takes on Sunshine Coast at 8 p.m. at the Trail Memorial Centre.
The bronze medal game is scheduled for 8 a.m. Thursday, and the gold medal match at 11 a.m.