Bantam A1 Team Shifts Focus To Post-Season Play

February 10, 2012
Posted in BC Edition, Minor

BY GRAHAM PERKINS /

When Burnaby’s Bantam A1 team was placed in the top tier to start the season, they knew it was going to be a challenging year. Twenty games later, the club’s 2-17-1 record is evidence of how big a step it is from Tier 2 – where the club finished last season 8-9-3 – to Tier 1, but it’s a step that will certainly help the program in the long term.

The last few weeks may have been the most challenging stretch for the team, in terms of quality of opponents. After getting a 5-3 win against Langley in mid-January, the team faced Abbotsford, Cloverdale, BWC twice, and Mission. They lost all the games by three or more goals, but for head coach Richard Taki, the scoreboard wasn’t as important as the level of effort he saw out of his players.

“The scores didn’t reflect how we played against the teams. I thought we played quite well. We had some opportunities to score, which we didn’t, and we let in some soft goals. The games were tight, but we just ran into some stints where they got some bang-bang goals.”

Now the focus shifts to the playoffs, where the boys will try to play the role of giant killers against one of the top opponents. The squad has improved considerably over the course of the year, so if they can put together everything they’ve learned and embrace the gravity of the moment, they’ll have a chance to pull off one of the great upsets of the year.

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