Home sweet home? It certainly proved to be during the opening weekend of Interior Conference elimination round playoff action, with the higher seeded Westside Warriors and Penticton Vees taking all four games played on home ice.
On Monday, the Trail Smoke Eaters and Prince George Spruce Kings both return to friendlier confines facing a brisk postseason elimination in their respective best-of-five series.
Westide (2) at Trail (0) — 7:30 PM, Cominco Arena
Talk around the Smoke Eaters entering their first-round matchup with Westside was that they just needed some urgency and a couple bounces to bust out of a ten-game losing streak. It seemed they might have had just that on Saturday, entering the third period of Game 2 with a 2-0 lead.
But just when it seemed that the series might shift back to Trail on an even footing, the Warriors broke through with a short-handed marker before tying — and then winning — to go up two games to none.
The good news for the Smokies? All season the team has battled road woes while putting forth its best performances on home ice. They also received an outstanding effort from netminder Paul Barclay on Saturday, and hope that another solid performance between the pipes is upcoming.
The Warriors have seen immediate postseason dividends from trade deadline acquisition Cam Reid. The ex-Victoria Grizzlies forward has notched three of the team's eight goals entering Game 3.
Penticton (2) at Prince George (0) — 7:00 PM, Prince George Coliseum
Last season, the Vees took home the Fred Page Cup after resting up with a first round bye. This season, it looks as though any time off between series may have just interrupted a good rythym.
Through two games against the Spruce Kings, Penticton has scored 10 goals while allowing just two. And they've won by committee: so far, nine Vees have scored two or more points in the series while netminder Jordan White has conceded a single goal in each of two wins.
For Prince George, the recipe for success is simple: get more offence from the likes of regular season scoring stars Sam Muchalla, Alex Allan, Sean Ambrosie and Alex Goodship (one point combined through two games) while limiting the scoring chances at the other end of the rink.
While the scores from both games in Penticton were decisive, the Spruce Kings can look at the combined shots on goal (56-52 in favour of the Vees) as a sign that the play was less lopsided that the scores may have indicated.
