Coyotes take second at Winter Classic

MOSES LAKE – The 18U Moses Lake Coyotes took second place at their home Winter Classic two weekends ago, falling 6-3 to Vancouver Minor C5 in the tournament’s championship game Feb. 2. 

“We had twice as many shots as them, they just had an absolutely phenomenal goalie that we couldn’t quite get enough pucks past,” Davies said. “The kids played excellent. Second place, but in our eyes, it was such a good game that could have gone either way.” 

After an up-and-down start to the season, Moses Lake traveled to a tournament in Canada just after the New Year. Facing off against challenging Canadian teams was an eye opener for the Coyotes according to Davies, who began playing like a new team after the tournament.  

“Once we came back from Canada, the kids just absolutely locked down and got it figured out,” Davies said. “We’d been playing really, really good leading up to the tournament, so we were pretty excited.” 

Game one of the tournament saw a back-and-forth contest against the Seattle Spartans, with Moses Lake eventually claiming a 6-5 win despite a late push from Seattle. 

“Previously, that would get us down – like, ‘Oh man, we just can’t get ahead of these guys,’” Davies said. “The kids just didn’t give up. We got a good lead going into the third period, and we were able to protect that. It did come down to the wire, so it wasn’t a guaranteed win. We had to earn it.” 

In their first game Feb. 1, Moses Lake dominated in a 10-1 win over the Seattle Americans.  

“We’ve been working really hard on minimizing our turnovers and making sure our puck possession was more dominant, and it really came down to the kids executing what we had been talking about,” Davies said. “When you possess the puck for as long as they did, it’s inevitable the puck’s going to end up in the back of the net.” 

The second game Feb. 1, and the final one of pool play, saw Moses Lake defeat the Yakima Hawks in a 6-3 contest, finishing undefeated in pool play and punching their ticket into the championship game. 

“(Yakima) came to play in this tournament, and it took us not letting off the gas pedal,” Davies said. “We just had to play our game constantly and couldn’t let off.” 

In the championship game against Vancouver Minor C5, who hadn’t allowed a goal for the entire tournament up to that point, Moses Lake got on the board early with a goal from Braxton Huss. However, the Coyotes eventually fell 6-3 in the game to take second in the tournament. 

“Hats off to the kids – they didn’t care that they were from Canada, they didn’t care that they hadn’t been scored against,” Davies said. “We went out there and met them with the speed that they hadn’t seen yet in the entire tournament. Braxton (Huss) came out and had a goal that he created with his speed.” 

Among the standouts from the tournament were Travis Shearer, who finished with a tournament-high 10 points off of seven goals and three assists, Jacob Girvan, who recorded five goals and three assists and Reese Porter, who had one goal and five assists. 

“Our defense was lights out,” Davies said. “Held the teams we played against to very few opportunities. When you make it to the championship and you play a game like we did in that championship, it requires everybody to be giving 100% effort.” 

Up next on the schedule for Moses Lake is a round-robin of games in Yakima this weekend. 

“Ever since the Kelowna tournament, we’ve only lost one game, and that was the championship game. They’ve been dominant,” Davies said. “It is a testament to the willpower of these kids and the desire they have to improve.”