December 01, 2011
Posted in BC Edition, Minor, Bantam
By Alex Joehl /
The Cloverdale A1 Bantam Colts have shown that they belong among the best teams in the west. But the Colts’ haven’t quite been a model of consistency, yet.
The Colts are fresh off last weekend’s first-place finish at the Dallas Saunders Abbotsford International Bantam AAA Tournament. But the less-than-perfect lead up to the tournament is what makes it more special.
The Colts finished 5-2-1 in the placement round but it’s the not so much the five wins that dictate how they fared, it’s the two losses and the tie.
“We definitely have to work on closing the skill-level gap between us and the elite teams,” said head coach Brian MacGillvary. The North Shore Winter Club got the best of Cloverdale so far this year, beating the Colts 10-1 in mid-October. The Burnaby Winter Club won an injury-plagued showdown, 5-2. The Semiahmoo A1 Ravens and Cloverdale tied 2-2 in the penultimate tiering game for the Colts, showing that they could hang with three teams with better records than them, but it would take a lot of work.
Then, league play began Nov. 23 with a 6-5 loss to the Seafair A1 Islanders that the team’s Twitter account referred to as a “bad game.”
“Our goaltending has to be better,” said MacGillvary. “I believe that if that improves, then we can beat anyone.”
The Colts got their captain Tyler Soy back from a broken finger injury that kept him out of the lineup for about six weeks.
“He’s going to greatly change the dynamic of our team,” said the head coach. “He’s our captain and probably the best player. Right off the bat, he’s going to command respect from both opposition players and his teammates. I think he is going to lead by example and show the guys how to prepare for games and what it takes to be successful.” He was right.
Soy recorded 21 points through five games at the tournament (according to www.westernelitehockeyprospects.blogspot.com) and coupled with Chris Seto (25 points) they powered through the competition, eventually beating the Okanagan Hockey Academy 8-4 in the final.
Next up is a stretch of five games in nine nights through Dec. 7.
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