The Greater Vancouver Canadians are still looking forward to a playoff trip to Prince George, it just may happen a week later than they expected.
The Canadians have advanced to the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League semi-finals after sweeping a pair of games from the Fraser Valley Thunderbirds last weekend at the Richmond Olympic Oval. Had the entire quarter-final round gone to form, the No. 4 seed’s next stop would have been up north to take on the regular season champion Carbioo Cougars.
However, that changed when the sixth-place Vancouver Northwest Giants defeated the third-place Okanagan Rockets. The upset set the stage for the Canadians to head to Coquitlam this weekend for a best-of-three match-up with the second-place Vancouver Northeast Chiefs. Game one goes tonight and the series continues Saturday and, potentially, Sunday.
“We don’t want to go to Prince George just yet but would be more than happy to do so in another week,” smiled Greater Vancouver head coach Phil Alalouf. “I was actually sending text messages to (Giants head coach) Aaron Wilbur throughout their game.”
The Canadians were expected to have their hands full with the No. 5 seeded Thunderbirds and they certainly did in the series opener last Saturday.
The visitors rode the outstanding goaltending of Boston Bilous to a late 2-0 lead when Greater Vancouver scored twice in the final three minutes. Captain Scott Atkinson put his team on the board, then set-up Sasha Mutala for the tying goal with just 45 seconds remaining.
The comeback was completed when Michael Araki-Young buried a Mutala feed at the six-minute mark of overtime.
The Canadians carried the momentum of the huge win into game two Sunday night and there would be no drama this time.
The hosts opened up a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes on goals by Owen Williams and Mutala. Henry Rybinski and Samuel Pouliot doubled the advantage before Fraser Valley finally got on the board in the late stages of the second. Third period goals by Daniel Pearson and Atkinson iced the win.
“Three minutes left in game one and the whole momentum changed even though Boston was outstanding for them,” continued Alalouf. “The guys came into today were focused on getting the job done.”
The semi-final series features a pair of high-scoring teams with plenty of top end talent. The last time they met back in January ended in a series split by scores of 8-5 and 7-6.
The Canadians’ first unit power play includes three top Western Hockey League prospects — 16-year-old Atkinson (Edmonton) and 15-year-olds Mutala (Tri-City) and Rybinski (Medicine Hat). It looked dangerous on every opportunity in Sunday’s clincher.
