It was a tournament of highs and lows for the Kerry Park U18A hockey team but in the end, the squad brought a silver medal home from Oceanside on the weekend of Oct. 15.
The Isles faced Cloverdale in their first round robin game and a natural hattrick from Blaise Bennefield who not just opened the scoring but put his team up by three. Two more were potted by Wage Enger while singles came off the sticks of Ewan Petrie and Roan Bleackley as well to give Kerry Park the 7-3 victory.
The host team, Oceanside, stepped up big in the Isles second game of the tournament, handing Kerry Park an 8-2 loss. Bennefield got his fourth of the tourney while teammate Damien Sutton scored the other goal.
Unfortunately for the south Cowichan based team, their goalie was lost to a tournament ending injury in the game and it showed, particularly in their third round robin game when they fell 16-0 to Triport.
Even so, their round robin record earned them a semi-final berth and with the help of pick-up goalie Chase Rederburg from Kerry Park’s U18 Rec team, the Isles beat Oceanside 4-0 and with the win, punched their ticket to the finals. Goals that game were scored by Bennefield, Petrie, and Addison Urquhart.
The gold medal game found the Islanders facing off with Triport once again, and though the score was significantly closer than in their round robin matchup, Kerry Park was defeated by a 5-2 score, earning silver medals when all was said and done. Bennefield scored again, giving him at least one marker in every game played in the tournament. Sutton scored the other for the Islanders.