Week 1 of the BCHL playoffs are in the books and four teams are done, four teams are moving on, and four teams are just getting started.
Victoria vs. Cowichan:
Chris Zaires of the Cowichan Valley Capitals is on a five-game point streak good for ten points which includes two games from the regular season where he had two points in his six previous games. The 20-year old had one less goal this season than his rookie campaign with Westside but had an eye bulging 37 more assists. The Aberdeen, New Jersey resident is off to Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island next season.
Zaires, along with teammates Alex Gellert and Zack Currie registered at least a point in all three playoff games.
Head Coach and General Manager Scott Robinson noted his powerplay as key to sweeping the Clippers as he told Craig Slater of the Nanaimo Daily News, “It's funny because our power play sucked for the last three months. Since Christmas, the power play has been awful. We went from about third in the league right down to near the bottom. To have it come up and win us these games was a nice sign.” The full article is here.
Grizzlies Head Coach Geoff Courtnall discussed his team's bye with Sharie Epp of the Victoria Times Colonist saying, “I think there’s no real advantage to watching, that’s for sure, especially when Cowichan won in three games straight.” The rest of a great preview is here.
Last year two teams that had a first round bye in Langley and Westside both fell behind early in their series by totals of 2-0 and 3-1 but both recovered to win the best of sevens. All four teams that had byes last year, including Penticton and Nanaimo, advanced past the second round.
Powell River vs. Surrey
Mike Henderson of the Surrey Eagles is on a five game point streak with one of those games being the last game of the regular season. The 1989 born player from Bloomington, Indiana had only one point in his previous five games to the streak.
Head Coach Shane Coach talked to Nick Greenizan about going to back-to-back overtimes while Powell River rested, “They were probably sitting back laughing, while we were killing ourselves out there.” The full preview is here.
Trevor Elias of the Langley Chiefs ended his season on a six game point streak including two games from the regular season. The 20-year old from Calgary, Alberta will be off to Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan next season.
Vernon vs. Penticton
Curtis McKenzie of the Penticton Vees is on a eight games point streak good for 15 points with three of the games from the regular season and only two points in his previous five games.
The 1991 born player totaled 27 more goals and 27 more assists for 54 more points in four more games this season than his rookie campaign. The Golden resident will be off to Miami University in Oxford, Ohio either next season or two seasons from now.
Salmon Arm vs. Westside
In the eight game season series Salmon Arm went (4-4-0-0) and Westside went (4-4-0-0). Westside outscored Salmon Arm 30-27. Salmon Arm outshot Westside with a average per game of 34.0 compared to 32.6 against.
Both teams went 3-1-0-0 at home with the only losses coming in the first meetings of the season at the respective home arenas. Westside scored first in six of the eight games. Westside led after the first period in four games, Salmon Arm in one game, three were tied. Westside led after the second period in four game, Salmon Arm in two games, two were tied.
There were no overtime games, only three of the games were decided by one goal.
Westside went 22.5% on the powerplay compared to Salmon Arm's 14.8%.
Salmon Arm Scoring Leaders: Conor Morrison (6GP-6G-3A-9P), Brent Vandenberg (4GP-4G-1A-5P), Travis Statchuk (5GP-2G-3A-5P), Ashford McMaster (8GP-0G-7A-7P), Bobby Lipsett (8GP-2G-4A-6P), Jason Beattie (8GP-1G-5A-6P), Mark Zengerle (7GP-1G-4A-5P), Matt Grassi (8GP-2G-3A-5P), Keenan Desmet (8GP-1G-4A-5P), Justin Cseter (7GP-0G-4A-4P).
Westside Scoring Leaders: Jordan Gidaro (4GP-3G-3A-6P), Brad Plumton (7GP-3G-3A-6P), Justin Schultz (5GP-2G-2A-4P), Cory Pritz (8GP-2G-4A-6P), Jordan Gagne (8GP-2G-4A-6P), Trevor Bailey (8GP-1G-5A-6P), Grayson Downing (7GP-2G-3A-5P), Michael Quinn (6GP-1G-3A-4P), Vince Mihalek (7GP-1G-3A-4P), Ron Kelly (7GP-0G-4A-4P).
Salmon Arm Goalies: Bryan Gillis: 3-2-0-0, 4.69 G.A.A., .864 Save %, Tony Ierfino: 1-2-0-0, 2.69 G.A.A., .912 Save %.
Westside Goalie Kevin Jebson: 4-4-0-0, 3.39 G.A.A., .901 Save %. During the regular season
Westside went 22.6% on the powerplay compared to Salmon Arm at 22.4%. Westside went 86.4% on the penalty kill whereas Salmon Arm was 85.2%.
A couple of differences in stats was the Silverbacks were 13-11-1-1 this season when not scoring first and the Warriors were 7-14-1-2. When tied after two periods Salmon Arm was 7-1-1-0 whereas Westside was 5-5-1-1.
Virtually all other stats are very similar including home and away records with the Silverbacks 24-6-0-0 at home, 16-11-1-2 on the road and the Warriors are 22-6-0-2 and 15-12-1-2 respectively.
Justin Schultz was hurt on Monday night in Game 3 against Trail and left the game in the second period by Head Coach and General Manager Mark Howell expects him to play telling Chris Stanford of the Kelowna Daily Courier “He`s just pretty sore.” The full article is here.
Leading goal scorer Jordan Gagne did not play in two of the three games against the Smoke Eaters.
The Silverbacks have Interior Conference MVP Mark Zengerle while the Warriors have Interior Conference Defenseman of the Year Justin Schultz.
Salmon Arm went 8-9-0-0 in their final 17 games while Westside went 13-2-1-1 in their final 17.
