The Burnaby Winter Club Bruins had to rally to win a seventh Burnaby Minor bantam Christmas tournament.
The A1 Bruins rallied from a three-goal deficit with three third-period goals, before Tyler Preziuso tallied the tournament-winner in the second period of overtime to give BWC a 4-3 victory over Seafair in the gold-medal final at Bill Copeland Sports Centre on Tuesday.
“I got a lot of faith in this group to play the game, but I’m not sure we were as focused as we should have been,” said BWC head coach John Bannister.
Burnaby began each period with a spirited attack, but could not beat Seafair keeper Ty Taylor in the first two periods.
First team tournament all-star Jordan Sandhu gave Seafair a 1-0 lead, scoring an unassisted shorthanded goal in the opening period.
Sandhu scored a second goal and set up the team’s third in the middle period.
But BWC stuck to its game plan in the third period, getting a key goal from Harris Pearce in the open two minutes, before pulling to within one midway through the period on shot from the point by Carter Pasco.
Nicholas Watson, who was named the tourney’s top defenceman, completed the comeback by jamming in the game-tying tally on an assist from player of the game Ilijah Colina at 18:08 of the period.
Then in the second period of OT, Preziuso raced down the right side and snapped a quick shot past Taylor for the win.
The Arizona Bobcats took the consolation bronze medal 6-1 over the San Diego Junior Gulls.
BWC’s Mackenzie Wight was named the tournament’s top forward, while Jagger Denys of San Diego took the top goalie honours.
Winter Club’s Will Warm was also named to the all-tournament first team on defence.
The tournament title was the first for Burnaby Winter Club since back-to-back wins in 2009 and 2010.
