Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Adam Donnelly

FEMALE HOCKEY

Kamloops U15 Blazers claim BC Hockey bronze on home ice on Sunday

Mar 27, 2023 | 2:50 PM

KAMLOOPS – It wasn’t the colour they were hoping for at the beginning of the week.

However, there wasn’t one look of disappointment on Sunday (March 26) night, as the Kamloops female U15 Blazers had BC Hockey bronze medals draped around their necks, after defeating the Northeast Zone Predators 4-2 in a hard-fought contest at McArthur Island Sportsplex.

“I know it’s not what we wanted to accomplish, but it’s better than not accomplishing anything,” Lily Dekkers, who scored Kamloops’ fourth goal in the bronze medal game told CFJC Today. “The message [before the game] was this isn’t a throwaway game. This is our last game of the season, and we worked so hard, so we couldn’t afford to just lose this game.”

The Blazers came out firing, potting two quick goals in the opening twenty minutes. Gwen Storry got the scoring started at 5:33 of the first period, as she knocked a rebound past Predators’ netminder Bailey Zacharias. Nine minutes later, it was Kaia Fletcher finishing top cheddar after an impressive end-to-end rush to give Kamloops a two-goal lead.

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However, the Predators struck quickly in the second period, as Ali Caron danced into the Kamloops zone and ripped a high, hard wrister past Destry Eli to cut the Kamloops lead to 2-1.

“They were pretty good skaters,” Raina Chala said. “We worked hard to try and keep up with them. They were a good team.”

Kamloops restored the two-goal lead early in the third period. Storry barged up the middle of the ice, and after drawing two defenders, made a slick pass to a wide-open Allison Plowe for her third goal of the tournament.

Just thirteen seconds later, Lily Dekkers was the recipient of a Preds turnover. She fired low and beat Zacharias under the pad to give Kamloops a 4-1 lead.

“I decided to just put it on net, see what happens,” Dekker said, describing her goal.

The Predators battled hard to stay in the game and got one back with 5:42 remaining. Surrounded by three defenders, Sheigh Seimens walked into the slot and fired a perfect shot off the crossbar and in to cut the lead to 4-2.

With less than two minutes to play, the Preds kept the pressure on the Blazers and had a glorious chance to cut that lead to just one goal. However, Chala bailed her team out, sprawling in the crease and swatting the puck out of harm’s way.

The Blazers hung on for the 4-2 lead, claiming the bronze medal and finishing the tournament on a high note.

“It feels really good to win that with my team,” Emmerson Brown says. “We didn’t want to go home fourth, just feeling crappy on our own ice.”