Congrats Pee Wee Dogs!

The Alberni Valley Peewee Bulldogs went undefeated this week at the annual Comox Valley Chiefs Christmas Tournament at Glacier Gardens Arena, posting 5 straight wins to claim gold.

The Bulldogs began the tournament with a 5 – 3 win over the Oceanside Generals. Oceanside came out strong in the first period of the game, outshooting the dogs 15 – 7 and holding a 1 – 0 lead until the dogs got on the board early in the 2^nd period on a power play marker by Colton Lloyd.   The two teams went into the 3^rd tied at 3 after an evenly matched 2^nd period with both teams scoring twice including Alberni goals from Brock Elder and Austin Marling.  The dogs over powered their opponents in the 3^rd with Alberni Valley player of the game Colton Lloyd scoring his second of the game and Kyle May adding another to secure the team’s first tournament win.  Austin Marling and Jakob Gitelman contributed with two assists each and goal tender Jaysen MacLean stopped 30 of 33 shots for the dogs.

In their 2^nd game versus the Campbell River Tyees,  the Bulldogs came out hard in the 3^rd period again , turning a 1 – 1 tie into a  5 -1 win with 4 unanswered goals in the final frame. Jakob Gitelman earned the Player of the Game title for his outstanding play.  Alberni Valley goals were scored by Gitelman, Pierce Adams, Kyle May, Wyatt Selva and Colton Lloyd. Brock Elder led assists in the game with 3.

A decisive 7 - 1 victory over arch rivals the Powell River Kings in Game 3 saw the Bulldogs move closer to their first place goal. Assistant Captain Kyle May led the offensive drive with a hat trick and was named player of the game. Austin Marling posted 2 goals and 2 assists with Wyatt Selva and Jakob Gitelman adding the remaining two goals. Nick Ross, Brittney Savard, Pierce Adams and Brock Elder all added assists to the score sheet.

An early 6am start on the final day of the tournament saw the dogs come up against the only other undefeated team, Sea Fair of Richmond with the Bulldogs winning 5 – 4 in a hard fought game. Alberni Valley goals came from Brock Elder, Ryan Rae Arthur, Austin Marling, Colton Lloyd and Wyatt Selva. The player of the game honors went to defenseman Nick Ross.

The gold medal game was a rematch against Sea Fair and it proved to be another tough, exciting, one game goal against the team from Richmond.  The Dogs were on the board first with a power play goal from Wyatt Selva mid way through the first but found themselves down 2 – 1 late in the game before Austin Marling tied the score at 2 (unassisted) with 8 minutes remaining. Player of the game, defenseman Tynan Smyth, then scored the game winner at 6:41 of the 3^rd period and Bulldogs net minder Brayden Ward worked hard to hold off Seafair’s numerous challenges in the remaining minutes of the game, stopping 20 of 22 shots in the Bulldogs 3 – 2 win.

The team would like to thank their sponsors, the Best Western Barclay Hotel, Smitty’s and West Coast Cutting & Coring for their ongoing support. The Peewee Bulldogs will see their next action at home on Saturday January 8^th versus Kerry Park in Island League play.