First-Place U17 Canadians Continue Winning Ways

The U17 AAA Greater Vancouver Canadians continued their winning ways over the weekend (Jan. 20-21), sweeping the Vancouver Island Royals at the Richmond Olympic Oval. 

The first-place Canadians have won eight of their last nine games.

On Saturday, the Canadians scored four unanswered goals after the first period to defeat the Royals 5-1. Luca Martyniuk’s team-high 16th goal of the season just 1:30 into the game put GVC ahead 1-0, before Joshua Mytton scored 3:19 into the second to put the Canadians ahead for good. Helius Guan, John Bethell, and Nishaan Gill also scored for the Canadians, and Liam Leslie stopped 21 of 22 shots he faced.

On Sunday, the Canadians jumped out to a 4-0 lead—and Nishaan Gill scored twice—in an eventual 9-1 triumph to complete the weekend sweep. Goals by Gill, John Bethell, and Aidan Mark gave the Canadians a 3-0 lead after one period, before Trevor Chin scored short-handed just 19 seconds into the second period made it 4-0. After the Royals scored a power-play goal midway through the second, the Canadians scored three more goals (Helius Guan, Kendric Liu, and Joshua Mantle) to close out the scoring in the period. Gill added his second of the game in the third period, and Nathan Van Hoeke scored with 1:04 remaining as GVC wrapped up its eighth win in last nine contests. 

The Canadians improved to a division-best 19-5-2-2 through 28 games, owning an eight-point cushion over second-place Okanagan in the U17 standings.

Next up, a bye week for the U17 Canadians in BCEHL action before the team takes on the Cariboo Cougars on Feb. 3-4 at the Richmond Oval for a two-game weekend series.