U16 Storm ended their league competition with a silver medal after they lost the championship game 4-2 to Lacombe in an away fixture, in a match that could have gone either way.
It was the Ponoka boys who actually created first scoring position when Lewis McDowell suddenly turned up in front of the Lacombe net with the ball but his shot narrowly missed its target. But Lacombe was aware of the danger and they wanted to secure an early lead and they managed to score 10 minutes into the first half.
Storm struggled but managed to get back the control of the midfield and their tenacity paid off with an equalizer when McDowell sped through the right end corridor and scored from a narrow angle with a bullet-like shot. About five minutes later, it was Hector Ibarra’s turn to score for the Ponoka boys and he did so with another strong shot from just outside the 18-yard box.
Lacombe was not to be tamed, however, and they started to come in waves after Storm’s second goal and found an equalizer five minutes before half time ending the first 45 minutes in balance:2-2.
When the second half started, there was intense rivalry for the control of the midfield. In the process, two momentary lapses in the Storm’s defense setup allowed Lacombe to score twice within five minutes and the rest of the game was relentless but fruitless attacks by Ponoka boys and rock hard defense by the hosts. The game ended without further scores: 4-2.
Storm coach Gurjit Sandhu was happy with the outcome.
“Even though we didn't achieve the main goal (going to provincials), the team improved significantly from the beginning to the end and that was really fun to see and that is a goal that coaches set out to see,” he said.
“Although the guys are upset with the end result, we won two silvers, one bronze, second overall in the season (tied in points and came down to goal differential), and second at the qualifying tournament… the guys should hold their heads up high and be proud of what they achieved and look forward to improving even more next season,” he concluded.