On the weekend of March 4-7 the Thompson King Miners travelled to Morden to compete in the bantam AA provincials.

Their first game was against the Swan Valley Stampeders. The game got off to a quick start. Thompson, however, got much better scoring chances, slightly outshooting Swan 11-7 by simply driving the net.  Both teams again came out strong in the second period but midway through Thompson took control with a goal from Steven Goran as he deflected the point shot from Robbie Bonthron. Thompson continued to pressure Swan Valley but couldn’t put another puck in the net while holding the Stampeders to two shots in the second period. At the four-minute mark of the third period, Robert Briem got Thompson’s second goal. Thompson then pressured Swan Valley with a barrage of shots resulting in another goal for Briem and a 3-0 lead. Thompson outshot Swan 24-5 in the third period and earned Aaron Vallance the shutout.

Thompson’s second game was Saturday against Steinbach’s Southeast Blizzard. Thompson got on the scoreboard in the opening minutes with a goal from Briem assisted by Tyrel Charlton and Tanner Hepp. Steinbach answered back by hemming Thompson in their end for most of the first period while firing a lot of pucks at goalie Justin Paulic, but he held them off. In the last minute of the first period, Steinbach finally put their 16th shot of the period in, Thompson started the second period shorthanded, but did a good job penalty-killing. Steinbach came out strong in the resulting in two early goals. Thompson battled back with some good puck movement but couldn’t hit the net. Play went back and forth till the mid-point of the period when Steinbach got another goal, going up 4-1. Thompson got back on the board with a goal by Hepp assisted by Bruce Highway and Drake Bodie at the six-minute mark, but the score remained 4-2 for Steinbach.

Thompson played a quarter-final game later that day against the fourth-place Winkler Flyers. Thompson came out fast with an unassisted goal off the opening face-off by Charlton. Thompson continued using their speed and got another goal a few minutes later, again from Charlton assisted by Josh Barnowich and Goran. Thompson picked up two more goals before the period was out, one from Bodie assisted by Briem and the other by Arnell Evans. Thompson came out fast again with quick shifts getting Winkler to pick up a penalty early in the second.  Thompson’s Myles Bennett scored on the power play assisted by Clinton Nachbaur and Briem. Thompson again got Winkler rattled, resulting in a roughing penalty, which Thompson quickly capitalized on with another power play goal from Bennett assisted by Briem and Bodie. Thompson ended the period with one more goal on a drive to the net by Taylor Bloomer assisted by Evans and Bonthron to lead 7-0. At the 10-minute mark of the third period, Highway got a nice breakaway goal putting Thompson up 8-0. Thompson picked up one more in the last minute of the game with a goal from Goran assisted by Barnowich and Charlton. The team held Winkler to only 11 shots on net to Thompson’s 46. The final score was 9-0 with the shutout to Vallance.

The semifinals Sunday morning saw Thompson once more facing Steinbach with Paulic in net ready to avenge their earlier loss. Thompson got on the scoreboard first with a fast drive on the off wing to the net from Hepp and a beautiful shot over the goalie’s glove into the top corner assisted by Evans. Steinbach picked up a slashing penalty with eight minutes left in the first. Thompson’s Bodie won the draw straight back to defenceman Highway, who buried the puck just three seconds into the penalty. Steinbach forced Thompson back into their own end and took about six unanswered shots resulting in a goal. Steinbach came out fast in the second and tied the game up in the first few minutes. Thompson then picked up an interference penalty resulting in a power play goal for Steinbach, putting them ahead 3-2. Steinbach again picked up a slashing penalty. Thompson set up in Steinbach’s end and about one minute into the power play Briem put one in from a Barnowich pass from the corner to tie it up. Thompson picked up the tempo resulting in a breakaway goal for Hepp to end the scoring for the period. Thompson started the third period with a 4-3 lead but Steinbach once again got Thompson hemmed in their own end, taking shot after shot on goalie Paulic, but he denied them. Thompson got control of the puck and managed to get a nice breakout, resulting in a goal for Barnowich as he drove the net and received a cross-ice feed from Charlton with Evans also assisting to put the King Miners up 5-3. Steinbach continued to pressure Thompson and with under two minutes left finally put one in to make it a one-goal game. Steinbach then called a timeout and pulled their goalie, winning the draw and getting a shot or two off before Thompson defender Bloomer got the puck and sent it down for an empty-netter with just 17 seconds left. Thompson was outshot 39-16, but the final score was 6-4.

The finals saw Thompson up against the Portage Terriers. Portage managed to get on the scoreboard first with a goal about 12 minutes in. With about two minutes left in the second, Bodie finally got Thompson on the board with a quick release screen shot from the top of the circle assisted by Briem and Bennett. Bodie picked up his second of the game at the 10-minute mark of the second period assisted by Briem, who later intercepted a pass and whistled a low slapshot past the tender to go up 3-1 with four minutes left in the third. Portage called a timeout with the face-off in Thompson’s end and pulled their goalie. Portage won the first few draws, but the shots on net were stopped. For the next few draws the centres tied each other up. Thompson’s wingers went for the puck and shot on the empty net, but that kept resulting in icing calls. The centres faced off once again with 27 seconds left, but this time Charlton managed to get the puck in the open net for a 4-1 win.