U15 Canadians Pick Up One Point in Hard-Fought Games Over Weekend

The U15 AAA Greater Vancouver Canadians dropped all three games from Friday through Sunday, picking up a single point in Saturday’s overtime loss against Thompson.

On Friday, the Canadians lost 4-0 to the U15 Vancouver North East Chiefs at Burnaby’s Scotia Barn to kick off the weekend. 

On Saturday, GVC dropped a 6-5 decision against the Thompson Blazers at the Richmond Oval, losing in overtime after seemingly having wrapped up a victory twice. With the game tied 4-4, Leander Han scored his team-leading 11th goal for a 5-4 lead with 3:04 left in the third period. The Blazers, though, tied the game with only 32 seconds remaining, forcing overtime. In the extra period, GVC appeared to win the game on Maxwell Clemens’s breakaway goal just 19 seconds in. However, as the Canadians were celebrating, the officials discussed the play among themselves and ultimately disallowed the goal and assessed a hooking penalty against GVC. The Blazers ultimately won the game on the ensuing power play, despite Kaz Patrick-Russell’s 42 saves for the Canadians. 

On Sunday at the Oval, the Canadians jumped out to a 4-0 lead before losing 7-6 to the Blazers, who completed the weekend sweep. After trailing 4-0, Thompson scored the next five goals to take a 5-4 lead by the midway point of the third, including two power-play goals. The two teams traded goals soon after, and the Canadians were assessed a double-minor penalty with only 4:45 left down 6-5. But Braelyn Nunley scored short-handed with 3:00 left to tie the game at 6-6 (his third of the contest), before the Blazers notched the game-winner with only 48 seconds remaining (their sixth goal of the period) to hand GVC a second straight heart-breaking defeat. Andre Kwan stopped 41 shots for the Canadians in the loss. 

Leander Han’s 11th goal on Saturday led the team at the time, although big performances by Braelyn Nunley (four goals over the weekend) and Brian Woolfenden (three) meant that Nunley now leads the team with 12 goals while Woolfenden is now tied with Han at 11. 

The U15 Canadians fall to 4-18-1-1 through 24 games, with only six games remaining in the regular season. They will play four games in a weekend showcase at Burnaby’s Scotia Barn from Feb. 7 to Feb. 9, taking on the Chiefs (Friday, 1:15), Cougars (Saturday, 9:15 a.m.), Chiefs again (Saturday, 7:00 p.m.), and Thunderbirds (Sunday, 6:45 p.m.). All games can be seen on playfullscreen.com.