U17 Canadians Sweep Chiefs in Home-and-Home Series

The first-place U17 AAA Greater Vancouver Canadians, in their first action since the Christmas break, continued to roll as they have now won five straight games, sweeping the Vancouver NE Chiefs over the weekend (Jan. 6-7) in a home-and-home series. 

The Canadians are now 16-4-2-2 and have 36 points, four more than second-place Okanagan.

On Saturday at the Richmond Olympic Oval, the Canadians scored five first-period goals and never looked back, beating the Chiefs 10-4. Aidan Mark and John Bethell both scored twice, while Luca Martyniuk, Nathan Van Hoeke, Sorash Ramlal, Helius Guan, Joshua Mytton, and Trevor Chin also scored for GVC. Liam Leslie stopped 24 shots in the victory as he picked up his seventh win of the season (7-3-2-0).

On Sunday at Burnaby’s Scotia Barn, the Canadians won 4-2 to complete the sweep, rallying from a 2-1 deficit. Alan Peregrym made 24 saves and Vlad Ursache scored short-handed in the third period to break a 2-2 tie, as GVC hung on for the win. Luca Martyniuk scored twice and Joshua Mantle scored with only nine seconds left in the second period to tie the game 2-2.

The U17 Canadians will hit the road this weekend (Jan. 13-14) for a key series against the second-place Okanagan Rockets (14-6-3-1) in Kelowna, with the Saturday game at 3 p.m. and the Sunday finale at 10 a.m. Both games will take place at MNP Place and can be streamed live at playfullscreen.com.