Emotional provincial gold for Kelowna peewee girls hockey team

Undefeated in six games, the Kelowna Rockets lived up to pre-season predictions and claimed the BC Hockey female peewee championship in Surrey.

A 6-3 victory over the Tri-Cities Predators in the championship game capped the Rockets’ mastery over the top teams in the province and earned the Okanagan Mainline Amateur Hockey Association representatives the gold medal and the coveted BC Hockey blue banner.

Two goals and an assist by Taylar Janicki sparked the Rockets in a well-balanced effort that saw Camille Arellano, Tyra Rocha, Jada Leung and Emma Cater score a goal apiece for the winners.

Going into the finale against a Tri-Cities team they had defeated 3-0 in round-robin play, the Rockets knew they had to come through with a better effort than they did in a 2-2 tie with the Richmond Ravens earlier in the day if they hoped to stave off the Predators.

Head coach, Kevin England, said his young team went back to the hotel following the Richmond game to recharge.

“We had gotten away from our systems against Richmond, so we went over them during the break and also talked about the moment. Ones like this don’t come around every day and we wanted to make sure the girls enjoyed every bit of it.

“When we got back to the rink, we had another quick meeting and one of our veterans spoke up and noted that the girls didn’t have a great warmup before the morning game — and she reminded her teammates that they play better with a good warmup . . . and they needed one before the final.”

The team responded.

“Once the girls hit the ice, their minds were right into it, and their bodies followed,” said England.

While the Rockets’ Arellano opened the scoring 7:11 into the game, Tri-Cities replied with a pair of their own less than three minutes apart to take what would be their only lead.

Janicki scored her first goal with 1:11 left in the opening frame and put the Rockets ahead for good with her second just 1:38 into the middle period. Rocha added another goal in the second to give the Kelowna Minor Hockey Association reps a two-goal lead going into the third period.

Ready to play against a determined Tri-Cities crew in the final 20 minutes, the Rockets continued to work hard and win the battles along the boards — resulting in icing-on-the-cake goals by Leung and Chater. And when the opposition did get opportunities, Kelowna goaltender Ally Wark was equal to the task.

The celebration after the final buzzer was an emotional one for the players, coaches and parents, who had witnessed the steady bonding of the team throughout the season.

“Right from the beginning we knew this team had a chance to be very good,” recalled England. “I remember an evaluator saying at our first tryout that ‘you have a really good team there.’ But besides the talent, the girls learned how to really bond and become a team.

“It was awesome to see a group of girls who had become sisters celebrating an accomplishment not many teams get to say they’ve done,” said England. “I never expected that kind of emotion. The girls were thanking everyone around them. One dad said he was surprised too how his daughter kept thanking him for bringing her to all the early practices and to all the games all over the province.

“A lot of people say today’s kids have a sense of entitlement — and while that maybe true for some — these girls have proved there are still some out there who are thankful for what others do for them.

“It is a moment and season I will never forget. What an amazing group of young ladies. We are so proud of them,” added England.

ICE CHIPS: Coming off a sweep of Kamloops in the OMAHA best-of-three final series and a North Okanagan Super League (boys) peewee division championship, the Rockets opened the four-day event by edging the host Surrey Falcons 1-0 on a second-period goal by Janicki and a shutout performance by Wark . . . On Day 2, the Rockets downed Kamloops 7-0, led by two-goal performances by Janicki and Kaelin Foster . . . They defeated the South Island Royals 5-2, with Arellano scoring twice to lead the offence . . . In the round-robin win over Tri-Cities on Day 3, Wark registered her third whitewash while Janicki, Grace Poynter and Kaedence Mollin took care of the scoring at the other end of the rink . . . Arellano and Jozn Wickert were the goalscorers in the 2-2 tie with Richmond on the final day of play while Leung assisted on both goals . . . In other BC Hockey championship tournaments during Spring Break, the Kelowna Tier 1 peewee boys finished with a 1-3-1 record in Nanaimo . . . The Kelowna female bantams were 3-2-1 in Richmond to finish in a tie for third place in round-robin play.