Langley Minor Hockey Association: News Round-Up

January 13, 2012
Posted in BC Edition, Minor

By Alex Joehl /

ATOM C1 HITMEN WIN ABBY TOURNEY OVER CHRISTMAS BREAK

The Langley C1 Atom Hitmen went 5-0 in the Abbotsford Atom C Christmas tournament, taking the gold medal.

Cormick Campbell’s goal gave the Hitmen a 6-5 victory over Abbotsford C4 in the championship finals.

In round-robin play, they defeated Semiahmoo C2 5-4, Abbotsford C4 6-4 and Surrey C6 6-5.
 In the semifinals, they beat Aldergrove C1 5-3.

BANTAM A1 EAGLES EDGED OUT OF CHRISTMAS TOURNAMENT

The Langley A1 Bantam Eagles found themselves on the outside looking in at the 49th Annual Burnaby Bantam Christmas Tournament.

The Eagles were 0-3-1 in the round-robin, but all three losses were by the slimmest of margins.

“You could say that it was just by one goal, but you still need to produce,” said Scott Perry, head coach of the Bantam AAA team. “There were a couple teams that were about our calibre, and that’s just the way it went, but there was one where we should have beat them.”

They tied the Mission A2 Stars 3-3 to open the round-robin, but then lost 3-2 to the Burnaby A1 Eagles. They followed that up with a 5-3 loss to the Victoria RC Kings. Then they lost 3-2 to the Surrey A1 Hurricanes.

The Eagles hope to build on the tournament experience heading into the balance of their league schedule.

“We’re a young team so we’re learning every game basically,” said Perry. “I think that’s how it’s going to be the rest of the year.”

In their first two games of 2012 the Eagles lost 6-3 to the very good Semiahmoo A1 Ravens but got thumped 8-1 by the Abbotsford A1 Hawks. That leaves the bantam squad at 2-8-2, ninth in the 11-team top flight.

“We’re still one of the lower teams in the top tier, which makes for a long night some games,” said Perry. “But other times we’ve played well. We’ve pushed the winter clubs and Semi and teams like that so there are signs that we are capable of bigger things.”

BANTAM A2 EAGLES REEL-OFF TOURNAMENT WIN

The Langley A2 Bantam Eagles were poor hosts at the annual Langley holiday tournament, going undefeated in the round-robin and beating Kamloops in the championship game.

The Eagles defeated Kamloops 5-2 in the final.

Langley’s lone blemish was a 5-5 tie against Semiahmoo during round-robin play.

Langley beat the Ridge Meadows Rustlers 6-2 and Vancouver Thunderbirds 5-2 before drawing Semiahmoo 5-5. They shutout Kamloops 1-0 before advancing to the semifinals, where they beat the Cloverdale Colts 5-2, setting up the rematch with Kamloops.

BANTAM A3 EAGLES PERFECT IN TOURNAMENT VICTORY

The Langley A3 Bantam Eagles went a perfect 6-0 and defeated West Vancouver 5-0 to win gold in their holiday tournament.

The Eagles won four of their six games by shutout, beating the Port Moody Panthers, the Cloverdale Colts and North Vancouver during pool play by identical 6-0 scores. The team’s lone close game was against West Vancouver, where Langley scored in the final minute to win 5-4.

In the semifinals, the Eagles hammered North Vancouver 8-2 and then won their rematch over West Vancouver 5-0.

MIDGET A2 TEAM SUCCEEDING DESPITE INJURIES

The Langley A2 Midget Eagles are sporting a 4-2-4 record and recently won a New Westminster tournament but how they’ve accomplished all that is the real story.

The Eagles won the Herb House Memorial Tournament just before Christmas, and due to a rash of injuries almost unimaginable, they did it with just seven of their regular skaters.

“We’ve had a tough go of it with injuries this year,” said head coach Ron Leroux. “I’ve never seen anything like it in all my years of coaching.”

The Eagles beat the Surrey A2 Hurricanes in the final in New Westminster despite the depleted roster. However, the injury bug has been around for much longer than the holiday break.

“Since the regular season started we’ve had one player go down after another,” said Leroux. “In our first game one of our top scorers was hit from behind and had to be taken away by ambulance.”

In a Remembrance Day tournament in Vernon the Eagles lost three defenceman in one game.

“Everyone has stepped up,” said Leroux. “We’ve had forwards in defensive roles and affiliates brought in to help fill in.”

He credits the ability to deal with the injuries to his team’s great mix of experience. There are five third-year midgets, six second-years and seven rookies.

“It’s a big step from bantam to midget rep,” said the Eagles bench boss. “Those first-year players have been a huge component to our team. We have a fantastic mix of players on this team.”

Their measuring stick, so far, has been a 4-1 win over the Vancouver A1 Thunderbirds. The T-Birds are “a big, fast skating team,” said Leroux. “We shocked them and I think we even surprised some of our kids by how we played against them.”

Though their recent success has increased optimism, the Langley coach doesn’t want them thinking to far ahead.

“I want to keep them playing in the moment,” said Leroux. “I don’t want them thinking too far ahead into the playoffs.”

If they could only get healthy, that may just be something to look forward to, though.

MIDGET A3 TEAM DOMINATES IN MUCH ANTICIPATED VALLEY TOURNAMENT

The Langley Midget A3 Eagles were excited for the holiday tournament in Mission and got their Christmas wish, taking home the gold medal.

Langley cruised to top spot at the post-Christmas tournament, defeating the Ridge Meadows A3 Rustlers in the final, 10-3.

In that game, Ayden MacDonald continued his torrid goal-scoring pace, notching four goals.

He finished the tournament with eight goals and nine assists in the five games.

Justin Butler also netted a hat trick in the championship final and earned player of the game honours.

In the team’s opening game of the preliminary round, they defeated the Mission A2 Stars 5-2, behind a two-goal performance from Jordan Lazar.

That was followed by a 5-5 tie against the North Shore Winter Club A2 Winterhawks, with Brandon Grasby and Philip Gauthier each netting a pair of goals.

Langley then topped Ridge Meadows A3 6-2 as MacDonald scored twice.

The final round robin game was a 6-1 thumping of the Seattle Sno-King Thunderbirds, behind some stellar goaltending from player of the game Mark Balcita. Grasby and Lazar scored twice apiece in the game.

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