For the first time in several seasons, the Richmond Sockeyes' route to another Pacific Junior Hockey League championship won't take them through the George Massey Tunnel.
The Sockeyes will meet the North Vancouver Wolf Pack in the Tom Shaw Conference finals, starting Thursday night (7 p.m.) at Minoru Arenas.
The Wolf Pack defeated the Delta Ice Hawks 4-3 on Sunday night to win their series in six games and eliminate one of the Sockeyes' traditional playoff rivals. Richmond has been idle since sweeping the Grandview Steelers back on Feb. 26.
The Sockeyes dominated the season series, winning five of six games and outscoring the Wolf Pack 21-13 in the process.
Rookie Ayden MacDonald leads Richmond in playoff scoring with six points, including four goals. Matthew Bissett and Nicholas Patey have five points each.
Kurt Russell has been solid between the pipes filling in for veteran Kootenay Alder with a 1.49 goals against average and a .943 save percentage. Alder has been serving a nine game suspension for an incident in a game against the Ice Hawks back on Feb. 11. He is eligible to return for game four of the upcoming series.
Game two is slated for Saturday night in North Vancouver and the teams return to Minoru on Sunday for a 5:45 p.m. start.
