Atom Chinooks participate in Hockey in the Rockies Tournament

Kayne Evans, Contributor

On Friday December 13 the Pincher Creek Atom Chinooks and their parents headed to Banff to participate in the Hockey in The Rockies Tournament . Their first game was scheduled against the Simons Valley Warriors at 7:45 pm. From the start of the game it was evident that the Warriors were a very strong team and the Chinooks would have their hands full. The final score was Simons Valley 12, Chinooks 2. Scoring for the Chinooks were Rylan Bruns and Riley Potts. Cory Dyck was the goalie for this game and faced a ton of shots in comparison to the Warriors goalie.


Saturday was a new day and the Chinooks were on the ice for the first game Saturday morning against the Shaw Meadows Lightning. The Chinooks came out with some jump this game and it was evident early as Rhett Fitzpatrick banged home his own rebound and had the Chinooks up 1-0, just over two minutes into the game. Caleb Evans followed this up with a goal of his own assisted by Cade Ames. Chinooks had a 2-0 lead going into the second. Shaw Meadows tied the game up with two goals in the period before Rylan Bruns scored to make it 3-2 Chinooks. Shaw Meadows scored again just before the end of the second and it was 3-3 going into the third . The third period saw some great goaltending by Koltyn Kipling and Bryant Stroeder for the Lightning. The score ended up 3-3.

Game 3 for the Chinooks was scheduled for Saturday at 2:30 pm against the host team the Southland Wolverines. The Chinooks were looking to keep their momentum of good play from the morning going and they didn't disappoint. By the end of the first period the Chinooks were up 4-0 and cruised from there to a 6-3 victory. Rylan Bruns had four goals , Alex Comeau and Riley Potts had a goal. Kieran Randall had an assist on Bruns third goal. With a record of 1-1-1 the Chinooks would be playing in the A final Sunday morning at 11 am against the Simons Valley Warriors.

Sunday morning saw the Chinooks suffer the same fate as Friday night, they were on the wrong side of another lopsided game and came home with a second place finish. Final score was 16-0. The Chinooks had seemed to lose their jump from Saturday but given the fact due to scheduling they played the last game of the night Friday and first game Saturday morning, it was understandable .

Overall the Chinooks played well , it was a lot of hockey in a short amount of time. Missing from the tournament were Nico Charette and Tristen Blood.

Upcoming:

Next up for the Chinooks is an away game Saturday December 21 in Picture Butte and then Sunday at home vs Crowsnest Pass.