The ’02 Ridge Meadows Roughnecks spring hockey team went in on top and came out on top at the Valley Cup Tournament in Surrey last weekend, as they won gold as the top-seeded team in the atom minor division.
The Roughnecks plowed through the round robin games to finish with a 3-0-1 record, moving on to defeat the B.C. Blackhawks 5-3 in the semifinal game.
That set up a championship matchup with the Pro4 Panthers. Tyler Crowe gave the Roughnecks a 1-0 lead just eight seconds into the gold medal game. Carter Sheridan added the winning goal, with the insurance marker by Vincent Timperio. The finishing blow was dealt by Dawson Ignatieff, who scored in the third period to give the Roughnecks the 4-1 win and the tournament title.
The defensive unit of Graydan Carr, Andrew Chua, Oliver Para and Edward Riddell were solid throughout the tourney, limiting the Panthers to 17 shots in the final, while adding an assist each. Jordan Kujala and Ben Williams also had assists, while centre Carson Fairley contributed with determined effort at both ends of the rink.
Linemates Sheridan (nine goals, two assists), Evan Vasarhely (five goals, four assists) and Kyle Sackman (three goals, seven assists) combined with a total of 30 tournament points.
Goaltender Justin Falconer played strong in net, finishing with a save percentage of .941 in the final, and had a tournament goals-against-average of 3.83.