Bantam Flyers go 2-2 at Williams Lake hockey tournament

The tournament began as negatively as a tournament can for any sports team, with a loss, as well as an injury. The Bantam Flyers unfortunately lost to Salmon Arm in their opening game. The Flyers also lost the services of team veteran Ricky Bateman, who suffered a broken arm in the first period.

However, a positive taken from this game was the debut of Aiden Harris for Fort St. John. Harris suffered an off-ice injury back in August, and made his presence felt over the weekend, scoring one of the two goals the Flyers scored in the game.

Saturday morning, the Flyers got their first win of the tournament as they tangled with the Prince George Cougars. Fort St. John defeated Prince George 9-4, with Bryson Eklund and Alex Hartman each netting a pair of goals for the Flyers. Hartman was named the game’s MVP and Lane Delfs earned the win in net.

Just a few hours later, the Flyers took part in a barn-burner with Williams Lake, pulling out a come from behind 8-7 win. After a back and forth game, the teams found themselves tied at fives, and it would be three consecutive goals by Eklund, Logan and Adam Krueger that would secure the 8-7 win for Fort St. John. Josh Robinson earned the game's MVP honours and Seth Hanna got the well earned win in net.

Early Sunday morning, the Bantam Boys found themselves in another back and forth tilt, this time though, finishing on the losing side. The Flyers lost 7-6 to the Quesnel Thunder, with the thunder scoring the game winning goal with only 9.7 seconds remaining in regulation. The loss hurt twice as much for the Flyers, as it prevented them from appearing in the tournament finals. Hartman scored a hat trick for the Flyers, and Legace picked up MVP honours with his two assists and hard working performance.

The Knights of Columbus Bantam Flyers will next hit the ice on Saturday Nov. 12 and Sunday Nov. 13 at Fort St. John’s Pomeroy Sport Centre.