The Ridge Meadows Rustlers U15 A1 squad won silver as hosts of the Tier 1 provincial championship hockey tournament this week.
On Wednesday night, March 18, the Rustlers lost a close 2-1 contest to the North Shore Winter Club in the gold medal match.
Caiden Smillie scored for the Rustlers in the final, assisted by Tristan Cardas and Brady Schnider.
Both teams went undefeated in their four-team pools.
The Rustlers started the tournament on Sunday night, beating the East Kootenay Avalanche 8-2, then hammered out big wins over North Vancouver 12-2 and Omaha Central 11-2 on Monday and Tuesday.
That brought the playoff round, and Ridge won their way into the gold medal game with an 8-4 win over North East in the semi-final on Wednesday morning.
Ridge trailed 3-1 early, but five unanswered goals in put them in control of the game. Emmett Baines was in on virtually all the scoring, as he had three goals and four assists.
Baines led the Rustlers in scoring through the tournament with seven goals and 16 points, captain Carter Cavan had seven goals and 15 points, and Trystan Samson had a goal and nine points. Schnider led the blueliners, as the defenceman scored once and tallied eight points.
Goaltender Brody Green played three games and won them all, allowing just five goals, for a 1.75 goals against average.