The Refinery Heat scored three goals in the third period to beat the T-1 Timberdogs 4-1 for the USW Local 6166 hockey tournament championship April 7.
Rory McKie had two goals in the final for the Heat and was named the winner of the MVP trophy, which is dedicated to the memory of Wayne Zahayko.
McKie opened the scoring about midway through the opening period when he cut into the slot and fired a wrist shot into the back of the net, but the lead stood up for less than a minute before Alex Head, who won the hardest worker award in the final game, tied it up for the Timberdogs.
The teams skated through a scoreless second period before Steven Goran got the winner with 12:55 to play and McKie’s second goal doubled the lead about 30 seconds later. There were 10 minutes left to play when Dan Gibbons put the final nail in the Timberdogs championship hopes with the Heat’s fourth goal.
Jeff English and Steve Matechuk had a most-goals contest in the third-place game between the City Slickers and the Smelter Rats, with English finishing on top four goals to three and the City Slickers taking the game by a 7-3 final.
English’s hat trick marker made it a 4-1 City Slickers lead early in the third period. It was his second goal of the frame, as he had already carried the puck past a defender and wired a shot home to make it 3-1 just 40 seconds into the final period. Two more goals made it 6-1 for the City Slickers before Matechuk scored his second and third goals of the game back-to-back in under a minute to reduce his team’s deficit to three . English got the game’s last goal with nine minutes to play.
Brett Ceppetelli opened the scoring for the City Slickers less than a minute into the game and Matechuk tied it up before English stole the puck deep in the Smelter Rats zone and roofed it to make it 2-1 about four minutes before the first intermission.
The T-1 Oilers scored five unanswered goals, the last two into an empty net, in the final period of the consolation final to defeat the Birchtree Hooligans 6-3 for fifth place.
William Smud and Brayden Vallance each had a pair of goals for the Oilers in the third period, while Michael Markus, who got the team’s first goal in the opening frame, added another. Ryan Keough and Pat McConnell had scored in the first period for Birchtree, with Stephen McLean making it a 3-1 Hooligans lead in the second period.
