Photo by Diego Brisebois-Bourget
FIRST STRIKE 鈥� Teslin Rag Tag 2023鈥檚 Robert Wiseman (22, on right) fires the game鈥檚 first goal past Friday OT goalie Glen Ruttle in the Division B final of the Victoria Gold Old-timers tourney at Takhini Arena in Whitehorse Sunday while Friday鈥檚 OT鈥檚 John Pereira (left) and Patrick Poisson (centre) watch the action.
Photo by Morris Prokop
TOP SHELF 鈥� Teslin鈥檚 Ben Clark roofs the puck over OT goalie Glen Ruttle on a breakaway to ice the championship for the Rag Tag 2023 crew.
Photo by Morris Prokop
SOLID STOP 鈥� Teslin鈥檚 Frank Sydney shoots the puck on net during a breakaway. Ruttle made a good save on the shot.
Victories by the Nationals and Teslin Rag Tag 2023 capped off another successful Victoria Gold Oldtimers hockey tournament at Takhini Arena Sunday.
Victories by the Nationals and Teslin Rag Tag 2023 capped off another successful Victoria Gold Oldtimers hockey tournament at Takhini Arena Sunday.
Division A had three teams and Division B featured six teams.
To set up the Division A final, Royal Flush beat EDI 7-0 in the Division A 2nd versus 3rd game Sunday.
Royal Flush were flushed by the Nationals 9-0 in the Division A final Sunday. Kevin Johnstone had a hat trick, and Gavin McKenna鈥檚 dad Willy and Mike Snow added two goals each.
Friday OT beat Yukon Inn 3-2 in an earlier game Sunday to advance to the Division B final. John Pereira had a goal and an assist for the OT.
Following Teslin Rag Tag 2023鈥檚 redemption triumph over the Rats Saturday, it was Teslin versus Friday OT in the Division B final.
Robert Wiseman opened the scoring for Teslin with 9:01 left in the first.
Tim Ekholm added to Teslin鈥檚 lead with 5:50 left in the frame.
They quickly notched another marker which appeared to be banked in off of OT鈥檚 goalie Glen Ruttle with 4:10 left in the first to make it 3-0. The goal, Wiseman鈥檚 second of the game, was a shorthanded effort.
Teslin, leading 3-0 going into the break, notched another one, this time by Willie Sheldon, with 11:12 left in the second to take a commanding 4-0 lead.
It took less than two minutes to add to that lead on a beautiful breakaway goal by Bruce Clark, making it it 5-0 with 9:46 left.
Teslin鈥檚 Scott Ward spoke with the Star after their big victory.
鈥淚t was great. We were here last year and we were the runner-ups. We lost in the finals to the Rats. We beat them yesterday in an eventful game to make our way to this finals game. It definitely was a good thing to win and get redemption for last year.鈥�
Ward said the Rats beat them 4-0 Saturday morning, setting up a Saturday afternoon rematch.
鈥淭hey were pretty tired out. We were down 2-0 to start the game and we came back to tie it up 2-2 and then we unleashed in the second period and ended up winning 6-3.鈥�
Ward explained the key to his team winning the big game against Friday OT.
鈥淚 think we just hit our stride. The core group of guys play a little bit of shinny out in Teslin but we had a few additions to the team so it took us a while to work out the chemistry and we all just played really, really hard because we wanted to win that championship, so it definitely all worked out.鈥�
Ward said the team definitely improved as the tournament went on.
鈥淭he team kept getting better and better, and we look forward to next year and defending our title.鈥�
Ward mentioned that goalie Zie Hamidi was the difference in the game.
鈥淗e鈥檚 an RCMP officer from our community. He plays with us as well, part of our core group.鈥�
This is Ward鈥檚 first year playing out, as he鈥檚 usually tending the twine.
鈥淚t鈥檚 great. I got my first career goal in the first game that we had, so that felt really good.鈥�
Ward thanked the tourney organizers and his team for 鈥減utting out the effort to win.鈥�
The Star spoke with one of the tournament鈥檚 co-organizers, CYFN Grand Chief Peter Johnston, after the final game.
Johnston was on the A Division-winning Nationals team.
鈥淚t was excellent,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 always good to win, of course, but just having some renewed rivalries, with Teslin coming back and beating the Rats last night and them coming to win the cup this year I think is kind of a sweet victory. And that鈥檚 what this tournament is all about and why I鈥檓 here to help support it as one of the organizers, along with Dave Wipf.
鈥淚t鈥檚 all about giving back to the community. When I think about men鈥檚 mental health, in a lot of cases we forget about how important that is. I think hockey provides that perfect platform, not only for a little bit of competitiveness, but along with a bit of healthy activity and a lot of good friendship and camaraderie.鈥�
Johnston said 135 players signed up for the tournament.
The players also had a meal together provided by Takhini River Ranch at Takhini Arena Saturday evening.
Johnston added he wanted to thank Victoria Gold and the Whitehorse Old-timers Hockey League, plus co-organizer Wipf for his contribution.
Johnston called Wipf 鈥渢he strong point of helping me do this tournament because it really takes a lot of volunteering.
We don鈥檛 get paid for this. I don鈥檛 do it for the money. I do it just for the love of the game.鈥�
In order to encourage thoughtful and responsible discussion, website comments will not be visible until a moderator approves them. Please add comments judiciously and refrain from maligning any individual or institution. Read about our user comment and privacy policies.
Your name and email address are required before your comment is posted. Otherwise, your comment will not be posted.
Be the first to comment