Interior Division
No. 1 Penticton Vees vs. No. 8 Coquitlam Express
Regular season head-to-head: (2 games)
The Vees won both meetings in regulation time
Of note:
If the Vees get out in front early in any game, it’s bad news for the opposition. They are 19-3 when leading after one and 30-0 when leading after two.
If Coquitlam can hang around and possibly force OT, they may steal some games. They were second in the Mainland Division with 62 goals scored in the third period and they were 3-1 in OT.
Final word:
Penticton are the heavy favourites here but Coquitlam finished the year better than they started and got 12 of their 15 wins after hiring Jason Fortier in late November.
No. 2 Vernon Vipers vs. No. 7 Salmon Arm Silverbacks
Regular-season head-to-head: (6 games)
The Vipers won five and lost one, all in regulation time
Of note:
Vernon led the league with 14 shorthanded goals including four by Jesse Lansdell. Jimmy Lambert led the league with nine game-winning goals. Strangely, Vernon had the poorest penalty killing in the league on home ice (79.2 per cent) but had the second-best PK on the road (87.8 per cent).
Salmon Arm will want to stay out of the penalty box as well as they surrendered 15 shorthanded goals against, while Vernon had the most shorthanded goals for. The ’Backs had a .750 winning percentage when scoring first but did so just 22 times, the fewest of any team in the postseason.
Final word:
Vernon is favoured and they’ll be a motivated bunch, wanting to honour the memory of their longtime owner Duncan Wray who passed away in January. Ty Taylor won the Goaltending Award but he and Anthony Yamnitsky split duties fairly evenly this season so it will be interesting to see who gets the starting assignments.
No. 3 Wenatchee Wild vs. No. 6 Merritt Centennials
Regular-season head-to-head: (6 games)
Wenatchee won three in regulation and one in OT while Merritt won two in regulation time
Of note:
This series is already underway with the Wild taking a 4-0 win in Game 1 at home on the strength of two goals by league MVP and leading scorer Jasper Weatherby. Wenatchee is a much stronger club on home ice, where they went 24-4-1 compared to 13-12-2-1 on the road. They were outshot just five times the entire season, by far the lowest in the BCHL.
Merritt were strong starters this season, with a +17 goal differential in the first period of games. But they had a negative differential in third periods and a 2-5 mark in overtime. Merritt went 0-6 out of the gate but were three games above .500 the rest of the way. If they can find some way to get shots on the Wild goalies, they may find success as both Seth Eisele or Austin Park had save percentages of .887.
Final word:
Wenatchee finished 24 points better than Merritt and already have the series lead so they would be the safe bet to win. Merritt’s was one of the few teams to earn a win in Wenatchee this season but doing it again in the playoffs will be tougher.
No. 4 Trail Smoke Eaters vs. No. 5 West Kelowna Warriors
Regular-season head-to-head: (6 games)
Trail won four in regulation time, West Kelowna won two in regulation time
Of note:
Trail went 4-7 in February and weren’t quite the same team in the second half as the first after they went 12-4-1 through October, sitting atop the league. Kale Howarth and Ross Armour both finished in the top-12 in league scoring and Levi Glasman was not far behind in his rookie season.
West Kelowna had just one top-20 scorer in Chase Dubois but got pretty good support from the blueline as Jake Harrison had 33 points and Michael Ryan had 44. The Warriors struggled in divisional games, going 11-23-2 while Trail was 16-16-3-1.
Final word:
Trail was 10 points ahead of West Kelowna so they would be favoured. The team that can shore up it’s penalty killing the most may have a leg up here. Trail mustered just a 79.1 per cent PK while West Kelowna’s was 14th in the league at 76.9 per cent.
Mainland Division
No. 1 Prince George Spruce Kings vs. No. 4 Chilliwack Chiefs
Regular season head-to-head: (8 games)
Prince George won six in regulation and one in overtime, one game ended in a tie
Of note:
Prince George was stingy defensively this year allowing 2.38 goals per game, third-lowest in the league and also had the least amount of penalty minutes on the year. Spruce Kings goaltender Evan DeBrouwer finished in the top-six in almost every goaltending category, including save percentage, goals-against average, wins, shutouts and minutes played.
Chilliwack is this year’s RBC Cup host, but will try to win their way in starting tonight. The Chiefs had the fourth-best penalty kill in the league during the regular season at 84.6 per cent. Their leading scorer this year was Will Calverley who put up 46 points.
Final word:
Prince George is heavily favoured in this series, having gone undefeated in eight matchups against Chilliwack this season. Getting off to a good start will be important in this series as Chilliwack went 14-5-0-0 when leading after the first period and Prince George went 17-2-0-0.
No. 2 Langley Rivermen vs. No. 3 Surrey Eagles
Regular season head-to-head: (8 games)
Surrey won three in regulation and one in overtime, Langley won three in regulation, one game ended a tie.
Of Note:
Surrey’s Ty Westgard finished tied for second in points in the BCHL with 70 and was also second in the league in assists with 55. His teammate John Wesley tied for the league lead in goals with 37. The Eagles struggled with special teams during the regular season as they had the second-worst power play and the fourth-worst penalty kill at 79 per cent.
Langley had the best penalty kill at home this year at 89.4 per cent and the ninth-best overall. The Rivermen power play was the fourth-worst in the league at 15.4 per cent. The team’s leading scorer is Brendan Budy who finished with 56 points.
Final Word:
This series is too close to call as the teams were separated by one point in the standings. Home ice advantage should be a benefit in this series as both teams have solid home records, Langley went 19-7-2-1 and Surrey went 18-8-2-1. Another important factor will be scoring first as the Rivermen went 20-6-5-1 and the Eagles went 16-8-6-0 when getting the first goal.
Island Division
No. 1 Victoria Grizzlies vs. No. 4 Alberni Valley Bulldogs
Regular season head-to-head: (8 games)
Victoria won six games in regulation and one in overtime, Alberni Valley won one in overtime
Of note:
Victoria’s Alex Newhook led all rookies in scoring with 66 points, including a five-game streak to end the year. He also led rookies in power-play points with 18 and was awarded the Bruce Allison Memorial Trophy for rookie of the year. The Grizzlies have the best power play in the league at 22.9 per cent, especially at home where they score at a 25 per cent pace.
Alberni Valley’s leading scorer is first-year player Keaton Mastrodonato who finished with 42 points and led all rookies in power-play goals with eight. The Bulldogs have struggled to keep the puck out of their net as they average the third-most goals against at 3.97 per game. They also have the third-lowest goals for in the league at 2.66 per game.
Final word:
Victoria is heavily favoured in this series after winning seven of eight matchups in the regular season. Both teams will rely on scoring from the back end as Victoria’s Dayne Finnson, Carter Berger and Matthew Doran are all in the top-20 in scoring by defencemen as well as Alberni Valley’s Mitchell Oliver.
No. 2 Nanaimo Clippers vs. No. 3 Powell River Kings
Regular season head-to-head: (8 games)
Powell River won four in regulation, Nanaimo won two in regulation and two in overtime.
Of note:
Nanaimo comes into this series as the hottest team in the league, having won 10 straight to finish the season, including seven in a row at home. Nanaimo’s power play excels at home, scoring 23.6 per cent of the time, compared to 17 per cent on the road. The team’s leading scorer is Tristan Crozier who finished with 56 points, including a league-best 27 on the power play.
Powell River has scored the second-most shorthanded goals this year with 13, including a league-high 5 from Ethan Kimball. Carter Turnbull finished with the fifth-most goals in the BCHL with 30, including a league-best 12 on the power play. Powell River also boasts two players in the top-20 in scoring among defencemen in Andy Stevens and Carmine Buono.
Final word:
This is another series that’s too close to call as the teams were separated by only two points in the standings. Both goaltenders should be busy as both teams each average over 35 shots per game. This should be an even series as well since Powell River averaged 3.69 goals for and 3.05 against, while Nanaimo averaged 3.41 goals for and 3.05 against.
