Week 3 of the BCHL playoffs are in the books and the four teams that received byes of the first round and finished the regular season with the highest winning percentages remain standing. It is the second straight year where the #1 and #2 seeds in the Interior and Coastal will meet in the Conference Finals.
Victoria vs. Powell River
This matchup will feature the two highest scoring teams during the regular season and will also pit the league's best powerplay (Kings) against the league's finest penalty kill (Grizzlies).
Victoria won all four meetings on the season with the Kings and outscored them 15-9.
Both coaches have cause for concern as Powell River's Kent Lewis told Sharie Epp of the Victoria Times Colonist, “The rust was on, we got the rust off, now the rust is back. We've just got to get our legs again, and get our timing again.”
Victoria's Geoff Courtnall says, “It's definitely always tougher for a team that's played seven games than for a team that's played five games. A lot of guys have bumps and bruises. Anytime in the playoffs, to be successful, you want to finish off teams a lot quicker than we did.” The full preview article is here.
Vernon vs. Salmon Arm
Sahir Gill and Kellen and Connor Jones are all on eight game point streaks, including their five playoff games, for a total of 13, 13, and 12 points respectively.
Conor Morrison of the Salmon Arm Silverbacks is on a six game goal scoring streak, the last five in the playoffs, for a total of seven goals and 13 points. Justin Cseter has at least a point, and almost two, in every playoff game so far for a five game point streak and nine points in total.
In the ten game season series Vernon went (5-4-0-1) and Salmon Arm also went (5-4-0-1). After losing the first game between the two teams the Silverbacks won four straight games but the Vipers responded by winning the final three of the season and four of five. Salmon Arm outscored Vernon by two goals at 35-33 but the Vipes outshot the Backs by eight shots and an average per game of 31.1 compared to 30.3 against.
Both teams went 3-2-0-0 at home and 2-2-0-1 on the road. Scoring the games first goal didn't mean much as Salmon Arm scored first in six of the ten games but went 2-3-0-1 whereas Vernon went 1-2-0-1 when they tallied first. Salmon Arm led after the first period in six games, Vernon in two games, and two were tied. The Silverbacks were 2-0-0-0 when trailing after one period while the Vipers were 3-3-0-0 when trailing after one period and 2-0-0-0 when the game was tied after the first. The Backs led after the second period in six games, the Vipes in three games, and one game was tied. Vernon was 2-4-0-0 when trailing after two periods and 1-0-0-0 when the game was tied after 40 minutes while Salmon Arm was 1-2-0-0 when trailing after two frames. Based on these numbers few leads were safe and the only thing that mattered was who was ahead after the final buzzer.
Two games went in overtime with both teams winning one in comeback fashion after trailing after two periods of play. Six of the ten games were decided by one goal and both teams were 3-2-0-1 in those contests.
Vernon went 17.5% on the powerplay compared to Salmon Arm's 17.3%.
Vipers' Scoring Leaders: Mike Collins (10GP-7G-3A-10P), Braden Pimm (10GP-3G-6A-9P), Kellen Jones (9GP-2G-6A-8P), Kory Roy (4GP-2G-1A-3P), Bryce Kakoske (7GP-3G-2A-5P), Connor Jones (10GP-3G-4A-7P), Chris Crowell (10GP-1G-6A-7P), Kyle Bigos (10GP-1G-4A-5P).
Silverbacks' Scoring Leaders: Mark Zengerle (9GP-8G-9A-17P), Conor Morrison (5GP-3G-6A-9P), Ashford McMaster (10GP-2G-8A-10P), Keenan Desmet (10GP-5G-4A-9P), Travis Statchuk (6GP-3G-2A-5P), David Killip (8GP-1G-4A-5P), Travis Briard (10GP-3G-2A-5P), Colin Lidster (10GP-1G-4A-5P).
Vernon Goalies: Andrew Hammond: 4-3-0-1, 2.79 G.A.A., .905 Save %, Graeme Gordon: 1-1-0-0, 5.50 G.A.A., .820 Save %.
Salmon Arm Goalie: Bryan Gillis: 5-4-0-1, 3.07 G.A.A., .900 Save %.
There were seven fighting majors for each team in the ten games. In total there were fights in three of the ten games with two of those games responsible for six of the seven fighting penalties.
Based on these numbers it would be hard to have a more even season series between two hockey clubs.
During the regular season the Backs went 22.4% on the powerplay for fourth best in the league compared to the Vipes at 19.4% for eighth in the league. Salmon Arm went 85.1% on the penalty kill for third best whereas Vernon was 83.7% for fourth. The Silverbacks scored 234 goals for third most in the league while allowing 167 for the fifth fewest. The Vipers scored 223 goals for the fifth most in the league and allowed the fewest goals against at 145.
A couple of differences in other stats were the Vipers gave up the fewest shots against and averaged the second most at 25.5 and 33.3 respectively. The Silverbacks were seventh and fifth in shots against and shots for at 30.3 and 32.6. Salmon Arm was 11-11-0-1 when being outshot whereas Vernon was 2-5-0-2.
Home and away records were similar with Vernon 23-5-0-2 at home and 19-9-1-1 on the road and Salmon Arm at 24-6-0-0 and 16-11-1-2 respectively.
Patrick Haas, the voice of the Salmon Arm Silverbacks, takes a weekly look at the top news from around the BC Hockey League. Each week, Patrick will review the headlines that have fans of the league's 16 teams buzzing.
