No championships this year, but Iqaluit hockey teams finish strong in Capital Cup

Both Iqaluit Blizzard minor hockey teams once again made some noise at the Bell Capital Cup tournament in Ottawa over the holiday.

The Peewee House A squad steamrolled over their opposition 15-3 in their opening four games, before losing 6-0 in the semi-finals to the Stittsville Stallions. Brett Sheehan scored a hat trick to lead Stittsville.

The Iqaluit Peewee team won this division last year.

The Blizzard qualified for the semi-final by beating the Osgoode Rideau Senators 2-0 on Dec. 31. Tanner Faith scored once and assisted Matthew Gardner's first period goal.

Faith finished the tournament with two goals and four assists to lead Iqaluit in round robin wins over the Russell Warriors, West End Battalion and Nepean Devils. Bryan Slaney scored twice and added three assists, and Lodie Ipeelie Jr. had four goals and one helper in six games.

The Blizzard's Atom House B side also made it to the semi-finals of its division before losing a 2-1 heartbreaker to the Osgoode Rideau Senators Dec. 31. Hayden Trupish scored with eight minutes left in the game to bring Iqaluit within one, but the Blizzard couldn't overcome an early two-goal deficit.

Before beating the North Leeds Stars 3-1 in the quarter-finals, Iqaluit won a thrilling elimination game over the Stittsville Redmen Warriors Dec. 30.

Eli Ferguson's unassisted overtime goal lifted the Blizzard to a 4-3 win. Down 3-1 midway through the second period, Jonathan Kingwatsiak scored in the second period and Jeff Faith scored with just over two minutes to play in regulation to tie the game and send it to overtime.

Iqaluit beat the Almonte Pakenham Thunder, Nepean Hawks and Orleans Icemen in the round robin portion of the tournament.

Faith led the Atom Blizzard with six goals and one assist. Jeremy Penney added four goals and an assist in six games.