The Greater Vancouver Canadians have come soaring out of the gate for the inaugural season of B.C. Hockey’s Major Bantam AAA League.
A weekend sweep of the Valley West Giants leaves the Canadians 5-1-0 and in second place of the eight team regional league. The lone blemish was a tight 3-2 setback to the unbeaten Okanagan Rockets (6-0-0) during the league’s initial Showcase Weekend at the Richmond Ice Centre.
The Canadians closed out their series against the Giants with a 6-1 triumph on Sunday morning at the Richmond Olympic Oval. The visitors actually opened the scoring before Grady Lenton and Jamie Hikida gave Greater Vancouver a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.
Lenton went on to record a hat trick. Johnathan Milne and Jack Diapaolo had the other goals. Remy Quintoro got the win in net.
It was a much tighter affair 24 hours earlier at Planet Ice as the Canadians got first period goals from Petrie and Hikida then rode the shutout goaltending of Markus Lam in a 3-0 win. Massimo Fazio added an empty netter.
The same two teams will meet again on Friday morning in Chilliwack as part of B.C. Hockey’s Major Bantam Invitational Tournament over the Thanksgiving Weekend.
Coached by Adam Hugent-Hopkins, the Canadians’ roster features talent from Richmond, Delta and Vancouver.
