The South Delta Tropics enjoyed an unbeaten run in the Okanagan to capture the Kelowna Winter Wipeout Hockey Tournament.
The Midget "C" team rolled to five straight wins including a thrilling 4-3 overtime triumph over the Kelowna Senators in the championship game.
First up for the Tropics was a date with the Semiahmoo Spitfire. Goals from Reid Rogers, Gavin Payne and Riley Sherwin opened up a 3-0 lead after one period en route to a 9-2 victory.
A great move by Carter Warn set-up Kyle Ainge to make it 4-0. Rogers then fed Sam Tilsley, while captain Jordan Payne notched a power play marker in the late stages of the second and also found the net early in the third. Blueliner Connor Chisholm added a pair, while Noah Shumka made 17 saves.
South Delta then pulled away for a 7-2 romp over the Kelowna Flyers Gavin gave his team a 2-1 lead when he combined with his brother Jordan for his second of the game. The Tropics extended the margin as Riley Mitchell buried a nice pass from Marcus Beaulieu and Sherwin snapped home a feed from Chisholm.
Third period markers from Beaulieu and Tilsey rounded out the scoring. Ryan Vaughn-Jones stopped 14 shots.
The locals closed out round-robin play with a 3-0 win over the Kelowna Blackhawks in a battle of unbeaten teams. Rogers opened the scoring on a nice wrap around. Ainge then broke free and scored a huge shorthanded goal as he snapped it top shelf glove side.
South Delta locked up the defence in the third period as stalwarts Liam Lester and Daniel Feldman, along with the tenacious forechecking of Jordan Hawksworth, frustrated the Blackhawks all night long.
Jordan capped the scoring with a howitzer on the power play, after a nice pass from Hawksworth. Shumka was solid when needed to earn the shutout.
The boys moved on to a Sunday morning semi-final date with the Kelowna Wild.
The visitors led 2-1 after one period on a Sherwin power play goal and Warn, on a pass from Chisholm.
Excellent penalty killing and goaltending from Vaughn-Jones denied Kelowna on four consecutive power play chances. Mitchell Godlonton deflated the home team even further when he scored from Beaulieu with just 14.6 seconds remaining in the second period.
Tilsley made it 4-1 with a great second effort midway through the third period. Sherwin completed the scoring from an impossible angle to seal up a 5-1 victory.
Vaughn-Jones was outstanding, posting his second win of the tournament and punching the Tropics ticket to the "show." The match-up in the final represented two teams with perfect 4-0 records as the Tropics took on the Senators.
Sherwin opened the scoring when he blocked a shot and went in to convert a breakaway. Gavin broke a 1-1 deadlock after a fortuitous bounce off his skate ended up in the back of the net.
The Senators came back with a pair of goals and took a 3-2 lead into the third period.
After trading chances, the Tropics again found themselves in penalty trouble as they were two-men short for a 1:42 span with just eight minutes remaining. After a successful kill, Godlonton tied the game with a quick snap shot stick side with 5:20 left in regulation.
Both teams enjoyed excellent chances in the four-on-four five-minute overtime period. Shumka needed to make the biggest save of the tournament to keep his team's title hopes alive.
The game came to a dramatic end when Chisholm carried the puck into the Kelowna zone and scored on an absolute bomb from the top of the right face-off circle. He was mobbed by his teammates seconds later.
South Delta lived up to the tournament name, "wiping out" the fourth Kelowna team of the weekend and putting gold medals around their necks.
Coaches Darren Chisholm, Jay Rogers and Dan Hawksworth, along with manager Carl Payne are very proud of how the boys represented South Delta Minor Hockey on and off the ice.
The Tropics now look to add a playoff
