The Whalers were off to Port Hardy on the weekend of the 21st for the 60’s Grease Bash hockey tourney. Without the experience of veterans Tera Kasubuchi, Jody Fink and Jan Dafoe (Great Western Bank), the team were set to play with only ten players for the whole weekend. The tournament being ranked as an intermediate level competition, it was the perfect chance for some of the regulars to step it up in order to fill the void.
The first game took place Friday night at 9:05pm against Port McNeil Ice Storm. A late game came in as an advantage for the Whalers since they are used to practicing after 10h15pm every week. The first forward line came on strong with a goal each from Lynn Slaby, Lee McGoerge and Sky Zimmerman (Brian McLean) in the first period. The second line took over in the second period with very exciting and sharp passing from Kelly Roloff (Great Western Bank), Chanace VanderHeide and Josée Bureau. Vanderheide were able to contribute with one goal each while Slaby added a second and Allison Abraham capped it off with one from the point . Final score 7-0 for the Whalers.
Second game of the tournament came a bit too quick for the Whalers as they had to be at the rink by 7am the next morning for a 7h30am start against host Port Hardy Juiceheads. Despite a few sleepy heads, the Whalers kept up the momentum from the night before and created chaos within the first minutes with goals from Lacey Mortensen (Vancouver Island InsuranceCentre), VanderHeide and Slaby. Super scorer extraordinaire VanderHeide completed her hat trick in the third period with two more exciting goals, one that could have been called a Sedin twins/Burrows tic tac toe performance in front of the net (well, that is what it felt like at the time!). Strong defensive play from Shirlee Carver and Sky Niskasari (Whale’s Tale Toys) assured the second shut out for goalie Jamie Banham (Whistle Stop) with a score of 5-0.
Third game came on at 1:10pm in the afternoon against the Campbell River Rich Angels. After a few naps and some trivia answering, the Whalers had a slow start on the ice but were able to put one passed the opposition with a goal from Bureau in the last-minute of play of the first period. The play went back and forth but the Whalers continued to show consistent team play which proved to be too much for Campbell River. Banham never let down her guard and helped the Whalers to victory with another score of 4-0. Goals from VanderHeide, Roloff and Abraham completed the score.
After placing first overall in their pool, the Whalers got an automatic bid into the gold medal game on Sunday at 1h30 taking on Nanaimo Black Ice from the other pool. The game was physical, fast, intense and a bit too much for the Whalers. It could have been experience, it could have been the skating, it could even have been the shooting but in the end, it was concluded that it was definitely the evening before, when the Whalers probably left it all on the dance floor to the 60’s music. Nanaimo’s focus and determination was apparent (NB: they were not on the dance floor the night before!) as they kept the pace for three periods, not allowing one goal and scoring a total of 6.
The Whalers would like to let their sponsor Ecofish Research Ltd know how much they appreciate their constant support.
Side note: Temporary captain Allison Abraham was awarded player of the game twice while Lacey Mortensen received the award once.
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