The New Westminster Royals waited until late in the game before pulling out all the stops.
The end result was a rally worth celebrating.
The Royals captured the Presidents Series juvenile playoff title earlier this month by erasing a two-goal deficit with 10 minutes left in the game to cap a solid season and for most, a fun minor hockey career.
Brandon Del Grosso put New West on the scoresheet with an unassisted marker, to make it 2-1 for Seafair.
They kept up the pressure but remained a goal behind until Del Grosso tied the game with his second of the day, assisted by Josh Lauener and Garett Hoffard. Just 11 seconds later, with less than two minutes in the game, Lauener capped the comeback on a setup from Hoffard.
A fitting way to end the season.
“I think (the) bigger factor of this success was teamwork,” said coach Martin Lesko. “Every player put something in the game. At the start of the season I didn’t see any special goal for this group, I just said ‘Let’s play good hockey and have fun.’”
In a season where they rolled 16-6-0 through the regular season, finishing behind only Vancouver in Flight 2 of Tier 1 division, the Royals outscored its opposition to the tune of 147-65 over 22 games.
New West began the playoffs with a 6-3 doubling of Ridge-Meadows, but couldn’t notch a second win, falling in the next two games 3-1 and 5-4 to end their provincial hopes.
It made the Presidents Series all the more valuable.
They defeated Burnaby 7-3 and Squamish 7-4, setting up the showdown with Seafair.
The win gave closure to a year that seemed like a rollercoaster ride – where you wish you get right back on.
Although the year began with a bang, as the Royals trounced PoCo 7-4 and 7-1 in back-to-back exhibition tests, the placement round saw the squad go seven games before picking up its lone win -- 3-1 against Seafair.
“Through the season we had some good games and some not so good games, we had some injuries and also our ice time for practices was a little bit challenging for guys because most of them working,” noted Lesko.
“I’m happy for the team. They worked hard all season and well deserved this win.
(For) me as the coach it was good experience.”
