The Summerland Novice #1 hockey team placed sixth out of 14 teams at the South Okanagan Novice Tournament last week.
Their first game was a 6-5 win over the Penticton Blue team thanks to two goals from Nash Bilenki, a goal from John Shaw and a hat trick from Patrick Geertz.
It was a close game but with the excellent goaltending of Tyler Algar and the outstanding defensive play of Matthew Lowery (which earned him the MVP award) they were able to hold on for the win.
Their second opponent, Vernon Dynamite, was no match for the speed of Jack Poznikoff and Connor Keehn. Leigha Herman, Max Havers and Brett Cerutti were unwavering in their quest to make sure the puck never left the offensive zone. In the end a hat trick from Nash Bilenki and goals from Holden Girard, John Shaw and Finn Alexander combined with awesome goaltending from Gavin Lodermeier brought them to a 6-1 victory.
John Shaw was awarded the MVP award.
The third match-up proved to be tough for Summerland when they played the Westside Martians. Despite taking his first penalty of the year Morgan Gove pressed on to try to find a way to beat their goaltender. Nash Bilenki was able to find the back of the net once but it wasn’t enough and they lost 4-1. Nash Bilenki was awarded the MVP.
The final game of the tournament had Summerland Novice #1 facing off against Summerland Novice #2 in a game of friends versus friends. It was a hard fought game with players who are used to practicing together vying for 5th and 6th place in the tournament. The teams played hard and despite the stellar performance of Patrick Geertz, who scored a natural hat trick, the Summerland Novice #1 team lost the game 5-3. Patrick Geertz was awarded the MVP award. The coaches said they were pleased with their teams’ performances and proud of the effort of each and every player.