All the scoreboard watching and speculation ended Friday, February 27, for BC Hockey League Island Division teams looking to see who and where they play in the first round of the playoffs.
Prior to the start of the last two games of the schedule Victoria Grizzlies, Alberni Valley Bulldogs and Powell River Kings were jockeying for second, third and fourth but everything settled into place after just one game.
Powell River reversed the trend of a week earlier and capitalized on most of their chances to win 8-2 over Alberni while Victoria squeezed out a 4-3 overtime win against Nanaimo Clippers.
In the 58th and final game of the year on Saturday, the never-say-die Bulldogs earned a 3-1 win to carry some momentum into the playoffs.
The results mean that Alberni will visit archrival Nanaimo Tuesday, March 3, and Wednesday, March 4, to start their seven-game series while Powell River will travel to Victoria for the same dates.
A large crowd, many of them families attending for Coast Realty Group’s United Way fundraiser, was on hand Friday for one of the most important games of the year.
Add a crazy bounce to the fast opening pace and Jacob Pritchard’s first goal at 1:00 minute into the game, over 1,100 fans got to get loud.
The crowd barely had time to get settled in though, because the Bulldogs answered 47 seconds later on a great solo effort from Dylan Haugen.
Shots and possession were about even through the first period but by the end Kings’ Nick Halagian and Kurt Keats each added a goal to lead 3-1 at the break.
Pritchard scored again from his bad-angle office but 25 seconds later Bulldogs’ Marcus Russell, on a hard rush to the net, beat Kings’ goalie Brett Magnus.
Up 4-2, it seemed like the Kings’ night, as they were able to finish their chances while the Dogs didn’t.
Play was dead even on the shot-clock but, despite a goalie switch from Billy Christopolous to Nathan Warren after two periods, the Kings pulled away on goals from Stephen Hiff, Brent Lashuk, Adam Tracy and Pritchard’s third for his fourth hat trick of the year.
Reviewing the night’s game, head coach and general manager Kent Lewis credited “Timely goals and a goalie that kept us in early with some big stops. I liked how the four lines contributed to the offence. We needed to get a monkey off our back because we had four games where we were our own worst enemy and it cost us second place.”
Looking forward, he said, “Playoffs are going to start and we know what we’re capable of so now we get ready for the fun part of the season.”
His counterpart Kevin Willison said, “That was not a good game for us, as far as I’m concerned, especially heading into the playoffs. We know now that we’re going to play Nanaimo. We’ll focus on our last game tomorrow, get out of here, practice tomorrow and start watching some game video of Nanaimo.
“We’ve had some good games and bad games against Nanaimo this year,” but, Willison added in a positive note, “we’ve been right there in most of them.”
Having just played the Bulldogs, Kings’ captain JJ Coleshaw vouched for that saying, “they are a good team, very hard working and very hard to play against and they never quit even when the score was 6-2.”
His four-assist performance was his lead-by-example statement, but Coleshaw added, “at points in the season the room has lacked maturity. But we’re starting to figure things out, getting serious here now with the playoffs and really starting to play Kings’ hockey. We want to play as consistent as possible and get rolling into the playoffs.”
Given the circumstances the Bulldogs needed game two on Saturday for momentum value and they hustled to a 3-1 win over the Kings.
They held a 34-22 edge in shots and goals from Scott Clark, Chris Schutz and Everett Putz got the Bulldogs back on a winning track heading into their series with Nanaimo.
Coleshaw and the Kings start in Victoria and return to Hap Parker Arena at 7:15 pm on Friday, March 6, 7:15 pm Saturday, March 7, and game five at 4 pm on Sunday, March 8.
