The B.C. Interior Selects Predator Ridge Eagles travelled to Burnaby May 30 to June 1 for the Canadian Classic AA Quest for the Cup Spring Tournament.
There were 80 teams in seven divisions from B.C., Alberta and Washington.
The team consists of Okanagan players born in 2000.
Steve Sauer of Summerland plays defence for the team.
The Eagles started on Friday against the Top Shelf Hockey Club, playing to a 5-0 win.
Next up was Team Extreme. This game was closer but the Eagles came out on top in a 3-0 decision.
Saturday’s first game was against the HPC Tigers. The Eagles won in a 12-3 game.
Their final round robin game was against the Fraser Valley Royals, a team they had played twice previously this season and lost both games.
It was a tight match, but due to a late start of 9 p.m., the Okanagan players were tired and lost 3-1.
This set up a gold medal final on Sunday against the Royals again.
This time the Eagles were motivated. After a late night incident in the hotel elevator where eight of the players were stuck for an hour, it seems they were talking strategy as they came out flying on Sunday afternoon.
Goaltender Alex Jensen of Kelowna stood on his head all tournament with two shutouts.
The first goal of the final started off with Sauer holding the bobbling puck at the blue line, passing it to Jordan Woytas of West Kelowna, who fanned on his shot, but Kyle Trerice of Kelowna somehow got it on his stick in front of the net and put it behind the goalie for a 1-0 lead.
With 30 seconds left in the second period Ethan Grover of Peachland set up Kyle Porritt of Penticton to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead heading into the third period.
The Fraser Valley Royals pressed and pulled their goalie late in the third period resulting in a goal with less than a minute left in the game.
With 15 seconds left in the third period, the Eagles were given a penalty, and with the goalie out for the Royals, it was a six on four power play.
The Eagles held on for the win and brought home the gold medal.