The kids from the Canucks and the kids from the Jets duked it out Sunday afternoon at the SOEC in a fast, hard-hitting game where five goals were scored and the number of near-fights surpassed that.
The Canucks looked to have the edge throughout, emerging with a 4-1 victory that, added to their 3-0 win Friday evening, brought their record at the Young Stars Classic to a well-deserved 2-0.
The game was the very antithesis of Friday's tourney opener where Winnipeg and Edmonton sauntered about in a fog and a tiny SOEC crowd responded with lengthy patches of total silence.
Sunday afternoon, in contrast, the big plays and the big hits kept coming and the players seemed hell-bent on impressing the scouts and the sold-out stadium.
Prior to the contest, hundreds of attendees flocked to the Young Stars "Party on the Plaza," where the highlight was surely the ongoing ball hockey game at the eastern edge of said plaza.
At times, the place was packed with tykes. Then the older kids would show up and the action would pick up steam.
But when various members of the Penticton Vees entered the fray -- and stuck around for most of the afternoon -- everyone jumped in and it was straight-up sea-of-humanity shinny. We saw one Vees player repeatedly hacked for doing nothing more than just standing there.
It was a blast.
But there was far more than a ball hockey game to this party.
The SOEC plaza was jammed from end to end with tents and exhibitors, and hundreds of people taking in the action.
Many wore NHL sweaters despite full-on sunshine and temps in the low-20s.
Winter, clearly is on the way.
