It was a close call for the South Delta Bantam A1 Storm at the 39th annual Richmond Bantam Midget International Hockey Tournament.
The Storm narrowly missed out on advancing to the gold medal game — falling 3-2 in a semi-final shootout to the eventual champion Richmond Jets on Monday afternoon.
South Delta tied the game on a late power play tally and appeared to score the game winner during the five-minute overtime period that featured four-on-four play. However, the referee blew his whistle after losing sight of the puck and the goal was waved off after a lengthy discussion between the three on ice officials.
The teams headed to a shootout where neither scored through three rounds. The Jets finally broke through to end the drama and received some terrific goaltending from Sophie Lim-Metz.
She shares the crease duties with Lauren McKay — giving the Richmond the rarity of having two female goaltenders at the Bantam A1 boys level.
The semi-final was a sharp contrast to a round-robin meeting three days earlier that saw the Jets roll to a 6-1 triumph. The Storm battled their way back into the semi-finals with wins over Mission (9-0) and Wenatchee (4-1). Their other game was a 4-2 loss to runner-up Golden State.
In the Midget AAA Division, the Midget A1 Storm concluded play Monday night with a 4-3 consolation loss to Victoria.
A 1-3-0 run through round-robin play was highlighted by a 5-3 win over the Junior Ducks from California.
