Island teams play with respect

On June 9 and 10, Metrotown in Burnaby hosted Hockey Night in Canada's Play On 4 on 4 street hockey tournament (www.playon.ca).

Approximately 451 teams came out to play in divisions ranging from Tidbits (seven and under) to Adult Elite. Two Bowen Island teams made the journey to play.

The Dekers, nine and under division, had the 'Bowen Islanders' playing with team-mates Dane Gilbert, Kevin Harding, Angus Ingram, Clayton and Wyatt Miller and Cooper Wright. These boys played hard and never gave up, even though they were being out scored. They played as a team, used three goalies and held together for one another. Kevin was strong as the opening game goalie. Angus stood tall in the second game even though he was getting shelled like a sand dollar on the beaches of Normandy. Dane was the octopus goalie in game three and he used all eight arms and legs to keep the ball out of the twine. On offence, Clayton and his young brother Wyatt made lots of good plays around net and Cooper played with reckless abandonment and was possessed with an indomitable spirit. In the end though, they just had a lot of fun. See you next year, mainlanders!

The Danglers, 13 and under division, had the 'Bowen Island Havoc' playing and consisted of team-mates Duncan Beale, Ted Duffield, Payton Grundy, Connolly Ingram and Kai Tubinshlak. The Havoc won two games and lost one on Saturday, and that was enough to rank them seventh out 18 teams and move on to the playoffs on Sunday.

Sunday morning had the boys back on the 6:30 a.m. ferry for an 8 a.m. game start. The Havoc won the game 13 to 7 with some amazing saves by Duncan and some killer shots and snipes by Connolly, Kai, Payton and Ted. They moved on to the quarter-finals and played hard against a super-fast team. Unfortunately, they lost that game to the team that went on to win the division championship.

In fact the only two games the Havoc lost were to the number 1 and 2 placed teams and our boys should be so proud of their accomplishment. Besides, those guys didn't have to catch the 6:30 a.m. ferry two days in a row - not that we're making excuses.

One of the best moments on Saturday was when the ref said that out of all the teams she had seen, the Bowen Island Havoc, were playing with the best sportsman-like behaviour; they played with respect and with the good fun spirit of Canadian street hockey.