By / Darren Bayrack
The Trails West Blades watched a big lead evaporate Feb. 15 in Vernon, but fought back to become the first Calgary team to ever raise the Amy Myles Memorial Trophy in victory.
Corey Dambrauskas scored the winning goal on the powerplay in overtime to propel his team to the 38th annual Coca-Cola Invitational Pee Wee Hockey Tournament title at the Civic Arena.
The Blades jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the final against the Burnaby Winter Club Bruins only to see the game heading into overtime tied at 8-8. Dambrauskas had some anxious moments watching from the penalty box in OT, before he stepped back on the ice and fired a point shot past Burnaby goaltender Jaden Nicholas-Evans.
“We were up 6-0 in the middle of the second and we just sort of gave up and didn’t play the way we played in the first period,” explained Dambrauskas following a practice in Calgary Feb. 21.
Scoring the tournament-clinching goal was a moment the 12-year-old defenceman will never forget.
“Kyle O’Conner put it back to me and I waited, like, five seconds and then I shot the puck,” he said. “It went in, so I was pretty happy – slapshot from the point. I was excited, everybody was pretty pumped because everybody was mad when they tied it 8-8 with 12 seconds left.”
O’Conner was Calgary’s scoring leader in the final with a hat-trick and one helper. With the win, Calgary finished the tournament with a 3-1 record and avenged an opening-game loss to the Bruins.
“I was nervous and then Corey just came up big and scored a goal,” said Brenden Montgomery of the overtime nail-biter. “I was happy.”
According to forward Quinn Wasylak of the Blades, the tournament final was intense and challenging.
“It was probably the worst third period that we ever played,” he said. “We were pretty intimidated, we didn’t play as good and we let down. Burnaby Winter Club is one of the best teams I’ve ever played, but we stayed in there and Corey Dambrauskas took a shot and won it.
“I was like ‘oh my God’ what just happened? It was crazy. The first team in Calgary to win this huge Canadian tournament is pretty exciting.”
The Coca-Cola Invitational championship has given the Blades confidence heading into league playoffs and taught the players the importance of never taking your foot off the gas when you have an opponent down.
“That’s, definitively, the big lesson for all of us,” summed up Wasylak.
Blades manager Steve Johnson was proud of the boys, noting they also won a tournament earlier in the season in Swift Current.
“We’ve won in both provinces against some of the top teams,” he said. “In Alberta, we are second in the pee wee rankings with Hockey Now.”
With a single regular-season game remaining, the Trail West squad is now squarely focused on the playoffs.
“This past weekend was a good confidence booster that we can compete against some of the top teams,” said Johnson. “We want to get a handle over Blackfoot and go to provincials.”
The win was gratifying for the Blades’ coaching group of Rob Butler, Jason Cox, Jay Faso and Randy Beekhuizen.
“These are volunteer coaches who have no kids on the team and they sacrifice their social lives to coach,” stressed Johnson. |