The U18 Prince Rupert Sea Wolves battled hard during a weekend tournament in Smithers but fell short in the bronze medal game.
The Sea Wolves opened the tournament facing off against the host Smithers Storm. Riley Murphy scored the only goal of the first period to give Prince Rupert a 1-0 lead at intermission. The second period saw the Storm come to life with three early goals from Hunter Murray, Eamon Cunningham and Tucker Slaney giving Smithers a 3-1 lead.
The Sea Wolves and Storm traded goals from Owen Davies and Cunningham to make the score 4-2 after two periods.
Early in the third Owen Davies gave the Sea Wolves some life and minutes later Parker Danroth tied the game at four. The Storm quickly took back the lead thanks to Damien Lowery. The scoring was capped off after Charlie Brown scored for the Sea Wolves, earning a 5-5 draw.
In their second game, the Sea Wolves faced Kitimat. For the second straight game the Sea Wolves opened the scoring thanks to Riley Murphy. Kitimat scored two goals from Lakin Mailloux and Logan Calkins to make the score 2-1 after one period. Kitimat added to their lead in the second as Mailloux and Calkins both added a goal making the score 4-1. In the third Parker Danroth got the Sea Wolves back to within two goals, but Aiden McCormick added a pair to make the final score 6-2.
Prince Rupert wrapped up round-robin play against the U18 Prince George Cougars. Just seconds into the game Mason Horne scored to give the Sea Wolves another early lead and the only goal of the first period. In the first minute of the second Caleb Bond scored for the Cougars while Noah Bomben quickly got the Sea Wolves back on top. Just seconds after Bomben’s goal Owen Davies extended the lead to 3-1. All three second period goals were scored in the first 45 seconds of the period.
In the third, both teams scored a pair of goals as Carter Hauk scored for the Cougars and Fisher Witzke struck back. Hauk added another goal and Luca Pirillo capped the scoring of a 5-3 final score and secured a rematch against Prince George in the bronze medal game.
In the first period of the bronze medal game, the Sea Wolves and Cougars each scored a goal with Rylan Dixon scoring for the Sea Wolves and Carter Hauk for the Cougars. The Cougars dominated the second adding three goals with two from Troy Stahl and another from Hauk. Six goals were scored in the third as Carter Langton extended the Cougars lead to 5-1 before Luca Pirillo responded for the Sea Wolves. Zachary Gobbi gave the Cougars a 6-2 lead but Pirillo’s second of the period cut the lead to three. Prince George added one last goal from Tarek Furlong and Luca Pirillo secured the hat trick in a 7-4 loss to the Cougars.
The Sea Wolves are back in action rhis weekend, Dec. 20 and 21, when they travel to Vanderhoof for a pair of regular season games against the Bears.
