They didn’t wind up on top, but the Boyle Midget Blazers still put in a good showing at their host tournament last weekend.
The Blazers welcomed teams from Fort St. John, Edson and Delburne to the Millview Recreation Complex for the event. In three round-robin games, the Blazers went 1-2 (beating Fort St. John 5-0 and losing to Delburne 3-1 and Edson 5-2). In the tournament’s ‘B’ final, they dropped Fort St. John 7-3.
“We were in every game. It was a pretty even tournament,” noted Boyle coach Mark Kilar. “It’s always your goal to come out on top, (but) one bounce or another and we could have been in the finals.”
Blazers winger Phil Boissonneault also felt his team put in a strong effort.
“We played pretty good,” he said. “A lot of secondary guys really stepped it up.”
The tournament was a way for the team to get some more ice time and gain confidence for their league play. The team currently finds itself towards the bottom of its league, but the coach believes they have what it takes to move up.
“We’ve played nine games, and six of them we’ve lost by one or two goals,” he explained.
Boissonneault also thinks the Blazers have another gear they have yet to reach.
“If we keep up the hard work, we’ll start pulling out the wins,” he said. “We’ve got enough skill, we’ve just got to put it all together.”
The team will line up against Lac La Biche on Friday night at home for a rematch against the team that dealt them a convincing defeat recently.
“The boys should be pumped for that,” said the coach.
The puck will drop in Boyle at 7:30 p.m.
