The Valley West Hawks came up one goal short of making their first ever appearance in the championship final series of the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League.
Drawing from Surrey, Langley, Semiahmoo and Cloverdale minor hockey associations, the Hawks pushed their bestof-three semifinal series with the Okanagan Rockets to the maximum three games before being eliminated March 16.
All three games in the series were played in Kelowna, where the host Rockets squeaked out a 5-4 win in Game 1. Paul Smith scored twice for the Hawks, while solo markers came from Matt Barberis and Davis Koch.
Valley West levelled the series at one game apiece with an impressive 6-3 win in Game 2. Matt Bradley did most of the damage for the Hawks, scoring twice and setting up a pair.
The series was settled in Game 3 where the Rockets outlasted the Hawks 7-6 to advance to the league championship series.
Bradley scored four goals and added one assist in a losing cause for Valley West.
Okanagan went on to sweep the Vancouver Northwest Giants to win the league title in Burnaby last weekend.