The Surrey Avalanche doubled the Surrey Wild 4-2 in the Midget C championship game of the Julie Paskall Memorial Christmas Tournament.
The annual tournament for house teams has been hosted by the Surrey Minor Hockey Association for roughly 40 years over the holiday break, but this year was the first time it was played in memory of Julie Paskall, a hockey mom who died after being attacked outside the Newton Arena in December, 2013.
“It was an honour to win this tournament, it always is,” said Avalanche head coach John Werring. “But it was even more of an honour to win this one because it was in honour of Mrs. Paskall and her family.”
Karanjot Sandhu and Terrin Kandola scored very early in the game for a 2-0 Avalanche lead, with the Wild answering with a goal from Ben Divin before the first period was over. Tamish Mand made it 3-1 for the Avalanche in the first minute of the second period, and again the Wild pulled to within one when Brandon Bains scored.
Shaan Sandhu restored the two-goal Avalanche lead with the game’s final goal with 28 seconds left in the second period.
Darshan Kalra had three assists for the Avalanche, with Mand and Divij Kalra adding one each.
The Avalanche received excellent goaltending from netminder Ryan Austin and solid play from defenders Malik Dhaliwal, Harry Boparai, Jared Scheuer, Darshan Kalra and Makz Werring.
Sandhu won the Most Valuable Player of the game award for the Avalanche.