ALL-STAR WEEKEND ROUND-UP - W. George Elliott, Similkameen News Leader
Any idea why it was so busy around Princeton over the weekend? It was
because Princeton¹s KIJHL Hockey Club, the Posse, hosted the KIJHL All-Star
Weekend.
Activities started early Saturday morning with a meeting of league
Directors. One of the highlights of the meeting was the awarding of two
points to Princeton¹s standings as a result of a game cancelled earlier in
the season by Revelstoke. The story at the time was that the Grizzlies¹ bus
had broken down.
Hockey action started at 12 Noon Saturday with the Top Prospects Game.
For those who don¹t follow the sport, in the KIJHL the Top Prospects game
features the best players 17 years and younger from all fifteen of the league clubs split into two teams.
The crowd at the game included hockey scouts from different league and
different levels and many of the Top Prospects will see themselves playing
hockey somewhere else next season, often at a higher level than the KIJHL¹s
Junior B.
Although Princeton had a single entry, Chad Hohmann did manage to get his
name on the stat sheet and his play was probably noticed by more than just
the fans at the game.
The game itself was a fast-paced, energetic game of hockey. It was easily
the best game ever played at Princeton¹s Arena.
The Eddie Mountain Top Prospects (EM) scored first at 1:47 of the first
period. Chad Gehon (Sicamous) got the goal with an assist going to Brenden
Turnbull (Sicamous).
It wasn¹t until 8:49 of the second period when the Neil Murdoch Top
Prospects (NM) were able to tie the game. Kevin Koopman (Beaver Valley) got
the power play goal with an assist going to Trevor Bailey (Columbia Valley).
The EM team got a go ahead power play goal at 7:23 of the third period
when Conner Gregory (Sicamous) popped one at the goalie which bounced off
his shoulder and dropped into the goal. Assists went to Harry Mahesh
(Osoyoos) and Princeton¹s Chad Hohmann.
The EM team tied the game at 2 at 10:20. Patrik Martin (Beaver Valley)
took the credit with assists going to Evan Bloodom and Gilbert Bilodeau.
The game ended tied at 2-all and went into a five minute overtime period
where there was no scoring. This led to a shoot out.
First to shoot for EM was Princeton¹s Chad Hohmann, who beat the goalie
and clanged one off the bottom of the crossbar. Colton Sutter (NM) missed,
Harry Mahesh (EM) was beat and Riley Loyst (NM) couldn¹t score.
Brendan Turnbull scored for EM, Craig Cunningham (NM) missed, Jonathan
Spence (EM) scored as did Kyle St. Denis (NM), Kevin Walrod (EM) was
stopped, as was the last shooter Soloman McCann (NM).
As the Eddie Mountain team scored twice in the shoot out, they were
awarded the win.
Player of the game was Chad Gehon of the Eddie Mountain team who plays
for Sicamous Eagles.
