A snow-covered field put a freeze on the B.C. U14 field lacrosse championship.
After capturing the Island title, the North Island Wild Ravens travelled to Burnaby last weekend for the provincial championship. The Ravens are team made up of Campbell River and Comox Valley players.
The Ravens took a quick 5-1 lead in their opening game against Delta and romped to a 15-10 victory. Taylor Arbour led the way with four goals while Graham Evans notched a hat trick. Jordan Balon, Bailey Robinson and Sam Kussauer had two goals each while and singles went to Tanner Jones and Nolan Morrison. Balon and Evans had threes assists each, and Sam Kussauer was named MVP for the game.
The Wild Ravens faced North Okanagan in their second game of the day and led 4-3 at the half. But the Okanagan goalie was absolutely outstanding and the Wild Ravens were only able to notch one goal each in the next two quarters and fell 9-6.
Evans and Jones had two goals apiece with singles coming from Arbour and Anthony Vigneron, who was named the game MVP. Evans also had three assists.
Game three was a must-win for the Wild Ravens as all four teams on their side of the draw were tied with a win and a loss.
North Island faced Richmond in this match and again got off to a quick start. Big sticks Griffin Whyley, Kyle Maximick, Joe Gonsky and Roy Uzzel were particularly strong in this game, and Richmond had trouble getting anywhere near goalie Adam Mason, who played his best game of the weekend.
Evans and Jones paced the Wild Raves with three goals each as they won easily, 9-1. Bailey Robinson was MVP and the Warrior Fair Play award for the season was presented to Sam Kussauer.
With the win, North Island advanced to the medal round and was anxious to play New Westminster on Sunday. But four inches of snow, resulted in the cancellation of the tournament and teams were awarded medals based on their round-robin record.
As a result, the Wild Ravens came home with the bronze medal. The team would like to thank their sponsor, Econo Ezy Box Storage, coaches Doug Robinson and Joe Whyley, and manager, Marnie Evans for a fantastic season in an effective blending of Comox Valley and Campbell River talent.