By Western Hockey League

Game 8 (Gold Medal Game): Team Manitoba 4 – Team Alberta 6

Troy Bourke had two goals and added a helper to lead Team Alberta to a 6 – 4 Gold Medal victory in the final minutes of the third period. The large crowd that was on hand at the Blackfalds Multiplex witnessed an emotional and exciting finish to the first ever Western Canada Under-16 Challenge Cup.

Team Manitoba opened the scoring four minutes in when tournament all-star Brendan Leipsic scored to get the icebreaker in the Gold Medal final. Team Alberta tied the game up when Jayden Hart scored the bounce back goal one minute later. Manitoba took a two goal lead after the first period with goals from Colin Baudry and a tremendous individual effort from Braden Cuthbert.

The second period saw Alberta cut the deficit to one when Troy Bourke scored his first of two just 2:28 into the second frame.

Manitoba went up by two goals with just three minutes left when Sutton Olson scored what looked to be the back breaker. A resilient Alberta team showed they still had gas left in the tank and scored with 1:17 left in the third off the stick of Peter Quenneville. With Their Goalie pulled Alberta tied the game up with 59 seconds left when Troy Bourke scored to bring the Alberta fans to their feet. Just 10 seconds later, Alberta completed their comeback when Levi Bews scored to give Alberta their first lead of the game. Mitch Moroz added an empty netter with one second left as Team Alberta claimed the first ever Western Canada Under 16 Challenge Cup in a game to remember.

Player of the game for Team Manitoba was #1 Chris Driedger and for Team Alberta, #22 Troy Bourke.

Game 7 (Bronze Medal Game): Team Saskatchewan 4 – Team BC 2

Regan Santoro stopped 26 shots for his second straight win as Team Saskatchewan doubled up on Team BC 4-2 to capture the Bronze medal on the final day of competition at the 2009 Western Canada Under 16 Challenge Cup in Blackfalds, AB.

Taylor Leier scored the icebreaker 2:25 into the first period to give Saskatchewan the 1-0 lead. Team BC waited till the final second of the first frame to score their first goal of the game, as Steven Hodges fired one past Saskatchewan goalie Regan Santoro.

The lone goal of the second period belonged to Team Saskatchewan as Andrew Johnson gave his team a 2-1 lead after two periods of play.

Team BC tied the game up five minutes into the third period as Evan Richardson capped off his strong weekend play with his 4th goal of the tournament. Saskatchewan would regain it’s one goal lead 4 minutes later as Jaimen Yakubowski scored what would end up being the game winner. Saskatchewan secured their victory when Kohl Bauml scored with just under 4 minutes remaining in the game.

Saskatchewan finished the tournament with a 2-2 record and a third place finished. Team BC finished with a record of 0-4.

Player of the game for BC was #29 Mackenzie Skapski, and for Saskatchewan #6 Ashton Sautner.