The ’02 Ridge Meadows Roughnecks hockey team headed into the championship game as the top seed and stayed on top with a 4-1 victory over the Pro4 Panthers taking gold in the Valley Cup Tournament in Surrey recently.

The Roughnecks plowed through the round-robin games to finish with a 3-0-1 record, moving on to defeat the BC Blackhawks 5-3 in the semi-final game.

Eight seconds into the first period of the gold medal game, point co-leader Tyler Crowe, assisted by Jordan Kujala, gave the Roughnecks an early lead. Carter Sheridan, tied with Crowe for points in the run for the Valley Cup, added the winning goal with the insurance marker by Vincent Timperio, assist by Ben Williams. The finishing blow was dealt by Dawson Ignatieff in the third frame.

The defensive unit of Graydan Carr, Andrew Chua, Oliver Para, and Edward Riddell, were solid throughout the tourney, limiting the panthers to 17 shots in the final game, while adding offense, with one assist each to help secure the medal win.

Centre Carson Fairley contributed with patented determined effort at both ends of the rink.

Line mates Sheridan (nine goals, two assists), Evan Vasarhely (five goals, four assists) and Kyle Sackman (three goals, seven assists) combined with a total of 30 tournament points, 13 in elimination play. Goaltender Justin Falconer was big in the net finishing with a SV per cent of .941 in the final with a tournament GAA of 3.83.