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The Kelowna Lakers U18 club team competed at the BC U18 Club Championships last weekend in West Vancouver. The Lakers won the silver medal (in the Tier 2 division of 8 teams).
Playing for the first time together as a team, and up against teams with experience playing in the Vancouver spring league for the past two months, Kelowna did not get scored on once in five games of regulation play, losing the gold medal game in a shootout and bringing home the silver medal.
In the tourney opener, striker Moira Roadhouse scored a natural hat trick, with Leanna Wong and Myah Wade adding helpers, as the Lakers breezed by a short-sided Chilliwack squad 5-0.
Game 2 again saw the Lakers dominate the play as they defeated Tri-Cities 3-0, with Leanna Wong scoring two, and Izzy Seifert adding one.
In the third game of pool play, Wong continued to find the back of the net with two more as the Lakers downed Burnaby 2-0. Solid defensive play the Lakers - anchored by Grace Fecht, Natalie Hope, and Hannah Phelan - ensured that goalie Taylor Hughes was relatively untested but did have to make some key saves to secure first place in the pool.
Scoreless semi-final action saw Kelowna and Delta 0-0 at the end of regulation, The Lakers again out-shot their opponents, with great opportunities from the Demug sisters, but couldn't get it by the keeper.
In the Kelowna end, Hughes came up huge with a stick save to secure her fourth shutout. The game went to a shootout. Despite having never played in one, Taylor Hughes again came up with some key saves as the Lakers squeaked a 3-2 win (shootout goals by Grace Demug, Lonica McKinney, Leanna Wong).
The gold medal game saw great defensive and offensive play by both teams as the Lakers faced a rematch against a bolstered Tri-Cities squad. Kelowna had the best chance to win when Kaitlyn Kruger, receiving a ball cracked from 20 meters away, launched a one-timer that was heading top shelf.
However, Tri-Cities had their star goalie in net this day and she made an unbelievable hand save to deflect the shot away. Another 0-0 draw saw Kelowna go to another shootout but this time came out on the losing end 2-0 up against a hot goalie.
The BC team girls are playing this weekend for the first time as a team. Seven local players have been selected to play at the upcoming U15 and U18 National Championships held in West Vancouver in July.
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