There was controversy at the BC Bantam Tier 1 provincial hockey championships, with a trip to the semi-finals is at stake for the Ridge Meadows Rustlers.
Ridge finished the round-robin portion of the tournament with a record of two wins and one loss, and coach Bobby Vermette said the team was confident it had won its way into the playoff round.
However, he said with three teams tied in their pool, the tournament organizers considered only the differential from the first two games of the tournament – which involved the teams in the tie – and threw out the Rustlers’ 7-1 victory that would have seen them advance.
When he was reached on Thursday morning, Vermette said Ridge Meadows Minor Hockey officials were trying to get an explanation from B.C. Hockey, but half the team had already left Nanaimo, heading for the ferry.
“It’s a disappointing that it comes down to this,” he said.
The Rustlers had lost to hometown Nanaimo 4-1 in their tournament opener on Monday, but then won the next two games.
On Tuesday, they beat Central Zone 3-2.
“We played well,” said Vermette. “We were all over them, and pressured them, and controlled most of the game.”
Ben Fontaine had a hat trick, and scored all four of his team’s goals in the first two games.
“Ben Fontaine had a big tournament,” said Vermette.
Next came a 7-1 win over East Kootenay on Wednesday. Vermette said his team ran up the score, believing the scoring differential could be an important tie-breaker in the standings.
“We were pushing to get as many goals as we could,” said Vermette. “The whole group played well.”
However, the Central Zone team they had beaten was said to win the tie-breaker.
They advanced along with Nanaimo, because the 7-1 win was not considered in the tie-breaking calculations.
Ridge Meadows Minor Hockey president Scott Falconer said he was satisfied that the tournament officials applied the rules correctly, but said the rules need to be clarified.
“The wording of the rules was not clear enough, in my opinion,” said Falconer.
“We end up on the outside looking in.”
He had no doubt that the Ridge team would have made a strong push for a championship.
“Our team played a really good tournament,” said Falconer. “They would have competed – there’s no double about it.”
“It’s still a heck of an accomplishment to get where they did.”
Bantam A1 players: Kyle Kelsey, Jayden Prickette, Oliver Nagy, Liam Farrell, Nathan Boater, Tommy Williams, Brady McIsaac, Jackson Payeur, Davis Murray, Anton Fuchs, Dylan Smail, Nicholas Miller, Adam Leitch, David Stepputat, Andrew Thompson, Ben Fontaine, Adam Jones, Jack Wingrove, Cameron Nikaniuk, and Jack Foster.