Swift Current Broncos rookie defenseman Brycen Martin had a spectacular tournament for Team Pacific at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in Drummondville, Quebec.
Martin, 16, registered at least a point in all five games to help Team Pacific finish fifth at the 10-team event comprised of five regional Canadian teams and five international squads. He finished the tournament with two goals and seven assists in five games against many of the top players in the world in his age group.
Martin got off to a quick start when he set-up Joe Hicketts’ overtime winner in an 8-7 win over Russia to open the tournament Saturday evening and finished with four assists in the contest. Canada had led the wild affair 7-4 early in the third period before the Russians stormed back with three goals to force overtime. Hicketts put home Martin’s feed just 59 seconds into overtime to lift Pacific to the win.
He continued his strong start with a powerplay goal in a 3-2 loss to Sweden on Monday as Team Pacific fell to 1-1.
Team Pacific got back in the win column with a 5-4 shootout win over Finland and Martin picked up a powerplay assist in the game.
Martin added an assist in a 4-3 overtime win over Team West, which eliminated Team Pacific from medal contention.
They concluded their tournament against Team Ontario on Thursday with a 4-3 win to place fifth at the tournament. Martin scored a powerplay goal during a wild first period as Team Pacific tied the game for the third time in the opening 20 minutes.
Martin added an assist on Tanner MacMaster’s second-period powerplay goal that held up as the game winner.
Swift Current’s Tim Vanstone skated for Team West, who dropped their opener 4-0 to Sweden on day one of the tournament. They fell 6-2 to Russia on day two and then lost 6-4 to Finland before forcing overtime against Team Pacific.
Team West wrapped up their tournament Thursday with a 3-1 win over Slovakia to place ninth. Vanstone picked up his first point with an assist on Josh Uhrich’s game winning goal in the first period to put Team West ahead 2-0.
