The PJHL playoffs have officially kicked off to see who will represent the league at the Cyclone Taylor Cup for Junior B supremacy in this Province.
The first round match-up has the Tom Shaw Conference champs Richmond Sockeyes play host to the Grandview Steelers and the other series has the North Vancouver WolfPack play the Delta Ice Hawks.
The Harold Britain Conference has the first place Aldergrove Kodiaks playing Mission City with the defending Keystone Cup Champions the Abbotsford Pilots playing against Ridge Meadows.In the opening games on Tuesday Aldergrove took the opening game 5-2 and had a strong performance on goals from five different players that included Spencer McHaffie, Adam Callegari, Quinncy Leroux.
These gave the Kodiaks a 3-0 lead after one then Mission City rebounded getting a goal by Kyle Baron cutting the lead to 3-1 at 2:19
of the second.
The Kodiaks fought back 7 minutes later as Kodi Schwarz made it 4-2 after two periods with the shot tally through 40 minutes a close 21-20 for the Kodiaks.
The final period had Aldergrove score the lone goal off the stick of Scott McHaffie making it 5-2 taking a 1-0 series lead with the final shots total being 36-34 for Aldergrove.
In Delta the Ice Hawks and the North Vancouver Wolf Pack renewed their rivalry in game one of the best of seven series taking the first game to overtime with Vitek scoring the game winner for the Wolfpack.
Quinton Vitek scored the eventual O/T winner at 4:29 of the first overtime giving the Pack a 1-0 series lead in their best of seven series.
The game was not without controversy as the Wolfpack scored first only to have it disallowed due to a high stick, forcing the Ice Hawks to play harder in their own zone.
While the Ice Hawks had a 2-0 lead getting goals from Mark Trotman and Connor Fortems in a span of 62 seconds late in the first and heading to the dressing room with this lead at the first intermission.
The Ice Hawks forced O/T as they scored with a 1:14 left in regulation a power play goal by Captain David Rudin to tie the game at 3-3.
The Wolf Pack struck back with a pair of there own, both coming on the power play as Troy Ring scored at 11:53 making it a 2-1.
With under a minute left and with the man advantage Spencer Quon scored with 22 seconds remaining to tie the game at 2.
North Vancouver’s Daniel Tait scored with 8 minutes remaining off a scramble at the edge of the crease beating Alex Ahnert putting them up by a 3-2 margin.
Delta was given a late power play and forced O/T as they converted with 1:14 left as Captain Dave Rudin beat Braden Krogfoss sending the game to O/T.
This extra session proved lucky for North Van as Quinton Vitek scored the game winner at 4:29 taking a 1-0 series lead.
Game two goes Friday in North Vancouver at the Harry Jerome Centre game time 7:30pm.
In Abbotsford the Ridge Meadows Flames took the defending PJHL champion Pilots to the limit in game one of their best of seven series as the Pilots need overtime to defeat the Flames.
The game winner came at 6:47 off the stick of Kolten Grieve allowing the Pilots to take a 1-0 series lead finishing with a 4-3 win.
The teams were ties at 2-2 in the opening 20 minutes and the Flames got markers from Danny Wilson and Cameron Alder, while the Pilots Colton Cowden and Bradley Parker got the markers. Shots after one period were 16-13 for the Pilots.
The second saw Ridge Meadows score the only goal taking a 3-2 lead over the Pilots as Travis Oddy got an unassisted marker beating William Latimer of the Pilots and the second finished with Abby outshot the Flames by a 12-9 margin.
Austin Edwards got the games tying goal for the Pilots with 4:03 remaining to even the game at 3-3 forcing O/T with the shots through 60 minutes ending up 40-30 for the Pilots.
The game winner came early in O/T as Kolten Grieve beat Tyler Read of the Flames at 6:47 of the first overtime giving the Pilots the win and taking a 1-0 series lead in their best of seven series.
The Pilots won game two with a 6-2 triumph with Abby getting goals from Braeden Monk, Brady Lawlor, Jared Virtanen, Joel Atkinson, and Braeden Monk (second of the night) and Bradley Parker.
Scoring for the Flames were Travis Oddy, and Nicholas Coltura who managed to get exceptional goalkeeping from William Latimer who finished with 29 saves.
Game three goes in Abby on Friday at 7:30pm at the MSA Arena
The other game saw the Aldergrove Kodiaks take a 2-0 series lead with a 5-1 win over the Mission City Outlaws as they got goals from Aaron Markin, Quincy Leroux, Jeremy Lagler, Nolan Dyck, and Kodi Schwarz.
Game three goes in Abby on Friday at 7:30pm at the MSA Arena.
Thanks to Bruce Nolte for the info. Story re-formatted by Steve
About Sportswave
Sportswave Productions is located in Delta, BC.
Sportswave promotes/broadcasts Amateur Sports within the Lower Mainland.
Sportswave Productions is owned and operated by Steve Erickson who has a long standing career within the broadcasting and refereeing for Minor League Sports in BC and across Canada.
Steve is recognized by his peers, associations, communities and colleagues for his endless contributions to multiple Amateur Sports within the Lower Mainland.
Steve was recognized as Volunteer of the Year Award by the Delta Chamber of Commerce in 2015 and inducted into the Vancouver Canadians Baseball Hall of Fame in 2017.
He was recognized by Ravi Kahlon, BC’s MLA Minister for Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation in September 11, 2017.
In December 2022 he was Awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Pin.
Awarded Rotary Paul Harris Fellow Award for tangible for significant assistant given for the better understanding and friendly relations among peoples of the world.
SportsWave offers services that extend from sports articles, to interviews with on location webcasts on https://sportswavetv.yaretv.com/
For additional information:
Contact
Email: thelockerroom@eastlink.ca
CITY OF DELTA
EASTLINK TV
SICAMOUS HOUSEBOATS
X-Treme Threads
YareTV
