Sno-King Peewees Bring Home Big Tournament Title

The last time the Sno-King Amateur Hockey Association sent a team to the finals of a national tournament was 1980.

Until Sunday.

The Sno-King peewee A team, comprising 12- and 13-year-olds from the Seattle area who play out of the ice arena in Lynnwood, beat Framingham, Mass., 4-2 in the finals of the National Tier II tournament in Buffalo, N.Y., to claim the title.

``The bantams were the last team to win a title in 1980,'' said Jim Blackstock, the team's assistant coach. ``When that happened, these (peewees) didn't know what hockey was all about.''

The team beat St. Louis Thursday in the first round 6-1, then tied Framingham 3-3 Friday night. Sno-King beat a team from Pittsburgh 5-2 to advance to the semifinals, where it beat Detroit 7-3. Sunday night the peewees beat Framingham in a rematch for the tournament championship.

The Pittsburgh game was physical, team manager John Komar said. ``They thought they could take away our skating game by being pretty physical,'' he said. ``They were bigger than our kids but they couldn't skate with them.''

Sno-King so impressed the host team from Buffalo that its players came into the dressing room before the championship game and offered to exchange jerseys, an old hockey tradition. ``We were the only team they did that with back there,'' Komar said.

This was the second consecutive appearance in the national tournament for Sno-King, which placed fifth in last year's tournament when Coach Jack Hawes was unable to attend.

``Jack's wife was expecting their first child to be born any minute during last year's tournament, so he didn't go back at all,'' Blackstock said. ``And he missed all but the final game of the Western regional tournament as well. He flew into Spokane for the finals last year. The day after the tournament, his wife had a son.

``That's what made this year so special for Jack. The team got so close last year, and to take that final step and win a national championship is really a tremendous accomplishment.''

Blackstock said roughly half of last year's team returned to play for Sno-King. Those players will advance to the 15-and-under league (bantams) next season.

This year Hawes coached the team to a 48-18-4 record and its second consecutive Western regional title, outscoring the competition in that tournament 69-8.

A volunteer youth hockey coach for 20 years, Hawes, 37, has taken eight teams to national tournaments. Sno-King was his first national champion.

``The kids really wanted to win this for their coach this year because they've really appreciated him,'' Komar said. ``He doesn't have a kid on this team, but he has given so much time to the program. They have a lot of respect for him.''

Blackstock said the team's most valuable player during the tournament was goaltender Doug Burkhalter, who allowed just 11 goals. Sno-King was outshot in each game and relied heavily on Burkhalter's play to stay in contention.

``They don't choose MVPs or have all-tournament teams,'' Blackstock said. ``But if they did, Doug would have been the one we'd have chosen.''

Terry Harris, Andy Hinson, Tony Neville and Cliff Voorhees combined to score 20 of Sno-King's 25 tournament goals, Blackstock said.

Komar said the association planned an awards dinner for the team soon.

``These kids are almost all honor students,'' he said. ``It's not a group of thugs. People have the wrong impression of hockey sometimes. They play a very clean brand of hockey. I think some of the people back there were surprised that a team from the West would be such a good-skating club. The West has a reputation for being a more physical brand of hockey.''