YUFC U14 Boys finished their season on a high note this past weekend with the ultimate win: Gold at Provincials in Lloydminster on the Canada Day long weekend. This marks the end of a successful season for the team coached by Michael Chapman. The boys competed in a group of 10 teams from around the province and went through the contest undefeated.
The weekend tournament started on Friday as Yorkton took on Swift Current and marked a 3-0 victory. Saturday saw Yorkton play two games. The first was against Prince Albert Celtics where Yorkton had a convincing 6-1 win. YUFC met up with Melfort’s Northern Internazionale and came out on top with a 3-1 result. YUFC ended the day in first place in the tournament and was pitted against their nemesis, Moosejaw, Sunday morning, for a semi-final match.
Kezzley Natlazo, YUFC’s affiliate player from Humboldt, opened the scoring against Moosejaw 15 minutes in. Moosejaw answered with a goal soon after. The game went into the second half tied at 1. Nic Nesseth scored at the halfway point of the second half and Yorkton maintained their one goal lead for the final, 2-1 in order to advance to the final that afternoon.
YUFC met up with Saskatoon’s SUSC Nitro, undefeated this season, in the final game. Yorkton came out with intensity and in the first 30 seconds, Nesseth scored assisted by Austin Andres. A minute later, Natlazo scored assisted once again by Andres. At minute 10, Nesseth scored unassisted to make the score 3-0. Saskatoon was able to score with minutes left in the first half. 3-1. Ten minutes into the second half, Andres marked a goal for Yorkton, assisted by Natlazo to make the score 4-1. Yorkton held off any more Saskatoon goals to win the 2016 Provincial Championship with a three goal lead.
The provincial tournament in Lloydminster caps off a successful season for the Yorkton squad. In addition to exhibition games this spring, the U14 Boys went to two tournaments. The first, hosted by Moosejaw June 3 to 5, saw Yorkton go up against the tournament hosts in the final to win gold with a score of 4-3 after having lost to Moosejaw in an earlier exhibition game. The second tournament of the season hosted by Saskatoon Eastside June 17 to 19, saw Yorkton lose out in the semi-final game against SUSC Nitro with a score of 4-1.
Coach Chapman was very pleased with his team’s performance at provincials. “The thing that stands out for me about the final game was the first ten to 15 minutes the boys came out and were relentless. They were not to be denied. I loved the killer instinct that they showed, especially against a team that had beaten them twice before during the season.”
YUFC sent 5 teams to Provincials in Lloydminster. The U14 Girls played well but did not advance to the finals. The U18 Girls captured Silver. Winning Gold in addition to the U14 Boys were the U16 Boys and U18 Boys.
