Native Sons clip Falcons' wing

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Four games in one day is too much for any hockey team. It was definitely too much for Vernon's Westside Totems who packaged together three straight wins to make it to the final of the Kamloops Falcons First Annual Native Hockey Tournament Nov. 26-28, in Kamloops, B.C.

With only Zamboni time for rest between the four-game marathon the Totems met undefeated Okanagan Native Sons from Penticton in the final and fell hard to a 10-0 decision.

"The guys were just all played out," Totems coach and manager Richard Louis said. "They began to cramp up, they were just too tired."

"We've been on the ice since 12:30 (p.m.)," Louis said after the final which wrapped up at approximately 8 p.m.

"That's a little tough - we just couldn't hang on."

The Native Sons earned $3,000 for the top spot while Westside won $1,500 for second and Alberta's Kainai Braves took home $1,000 from the 13-team tournament.

The Totems stepped on to Kamloops Memorial Arena ice shortly after noon on the final day of play and surprised a powerful Williams Lake Native Sons team with a 8-6 win.

A surge of energy late in the second game against Logan Lake's Highland Valley Hawks gave the Totems a 6-4 win and a birth into the semi-final against the Kainai Braves.

The braves came in as favorites but Totems struck early in the first period and held a 4-2 advantage by the end of the frame. The Braves struck 20 seconds into the second but Westside retaliated and walked in to the final with a 12-5 win.

A couple of brilliant saves early in the final by Okanagan Native Sons' goaltender Shawn George took the Totems out of the game. "They came out pretty strong but they were really tired. They played with a lot of heart," George said after picking up tournament most valuable player, most valuable goaltender and most inspirational player awards.

George backstopped the Native Sons through all five games with the toughest

win coming in a 6-5 mark over the Kainai Braves. Louis said the Totems are usually underestimated in all-native tournaments and had gone into the majority of the seven games played in the tournament as the underdogs.

The most gratifying win for the Totems was the 12-5 mark over Kainai because the Totems had lost to the Braves in a tournament in Morley, Alta. last year.

"We expected Kainai to beat us. The team that should have beat us was Williams Lake."