Hershey Jr. Bears Quebec Team Wins First Tournament Game, 5-1

Photo via Hershey Bears PeeWee Quebec Team Facebook page

The Hershey Jr. Bears Quebec team is off to a hot start, winning their first game of the Quebec International Peewee Hockey Tournament. The mini-Chocolate and White players beat Slovakia K&B Stars by the score of 5-1 Sunday morning.

Jonathan Wescoe put the Chocolate and White on the board first with a goal early into the match up, with helpers coming from Brendan and Gavin Yingling.

Slovakia would answer with a goal mid-way though the first frame, but Adam Varga channeled his inner Phil Kessel and would score a natural hat trick in a period of 7:23. Jacob Vitullo would add on some insurance to give Hershey the 5-1 win. Vitullo, Brendan Yingling, William Robertson, Eddie Evaldi, and Darion Benchich all finished the game with two points.

In four exhibition games, the Jr. Bears outscored their opponents 17-5.

Former Bears Mathieu Perreault and Karl Alzner participated in the tournament back in 2002. Other NHL-ers who have played in the event include Jonathan Quick, Steven Stamkos, Anze Kopitar, Ilya Kovalchuk, and brothers Nick Foligno, who played for the Jr. Bears team in 2000 and 2001, and Marcus Foligno, who played for the Jr. Bears in 2003. NHL greats Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, and Patrick Roy all played in the tournament as well.

This is the 54th year the Jr. Bears have participated in the event, the longest streak of any team in the entire world. Over 2,000 participants from over 15 countries come to the tournament each year. Since 2008, the Bears have gone to the finals five of six years, winning in 2009, 2010, and 2012.

The Jr. Bears will next play Lac St-Louis Lions Sud Wednesday morning at the Pepsi Coliseum.