A fast-paced, highly skilled confrontation is expected this weekend when the inaugural B.C Minor Midget Hockey League championship is decided in Kelowna.
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The Kelowna-based Okanagan Rockets, first-place finishers (23-4-3) in the 10-team regular season, will play host to the second-place Fraser Valley Thunderbirds (22-6-2) for the first provincial title up for grabs exclusively for 15-year-olds.
Both teams earned a berth in the best-of-three series by winning best-of-three quarter-final and semifinal series and will be resuming what has been a highly competitive short-term rivalry.
In their three regular-season meetings, Fraser Valley posted a pair of 2-1 victories while the Rockets won a third game 8-4.
“This should be a really good battle — both teams match up well as far as speed and skill is concerned,” said Okanagan head coach, Dan Haylow. “While we had our hands full in our two previous playoff series (against the Vancouver North East Chiefs and the Thompson Blazers), we expect an even tougher challenge to come from Fraser Valley.”
Haylow, in his first coaching role after an eight-year hiatus, will also be expecting a better start to the upcoming series than what his team was able to muster against the North East Chiefs and the Blazers.
In both series leading up to this weekend, the Rockets lost the first game and had to scramble to secure a pair of victories for the right to advance.
“Yes, we did get off to relatively slow starts, but in both cases we probably deserved to win those opening games but didn’t get the bounces or put away out opportunities,” said Haylow. “Hopefully we can make the most of our chances right off the bat this weekend.”
In the semifinal against the Thompson Blazers at the CNC on the past weekend, the Rockets found themselves down 2-0 after two periods of the first game and although they outshot the Blazers and held the territorial edge to came back and force overtime, they gave up the winning goal in the extra period.
The second game on Saturday saw the Blazers jump out to a 1-0 lead in the first period, but this time the Rockets responded with a goal by Kjell Osborne midway through the second period while Brennan Nelson tapped in a beautiful pass from Cameron Hicklin early in the third for the winning marker in a 2-1 decision.
While the Rockets did manage to take one-goal lead in the first period of the deciding game of the series on Sunday, the Blazers scored four times in the second to take a 4-2 lead into the third. The Okanagan reps — made up first-year midget-aged players from throughout the Valley — showed their mettle however, getting unanswered goals from Porter Trevelyan, Hicklin, Connor Elliot and Osborne to secure a 6-4 victory and a berth in this weekend’s showdown against Fraser Valley.
Coach Haylow said he had faith in his team although trailing by two going into the third.
“We just talked about playing the kind of game we had been playing all season,” he said. “We have a well-rounded team — from our goalies out — with lots of skill and speed and the ability to move the puck extremely well and we employ a heavy forecheck. It all came together — again — in the final 20 minutes.”
The first game of the championship series goes on Saturday at the Rutland East Arena beginning at 1 p.m. while the second game on Sunday is scheduled for 3:15 p.m. at Rutland East. A third game, if necessary, would be played on Monday at the CNC starting at 1:15 p.m.
Meanwhile, in B.C. Major Midget Hockey League play this weekend, the Okanagan Rockets, consisting of players 15 to 17 years old, will open post-season play by hosting the Thompson Blazers in a best-of-three quarter-final series.
The Rockets finished fourth in the regular season with a 24-12-1-3 record, two points ahead of the Blazers (24-14-2-0).
The first game of the playoff is set for today at the CNC beginning at 6:30 p.m. while the second game goes on Saturday with the puck-drop scheduled for 4 p.m. A third game, if necessary, would start at 1 p.m. at the CNC.
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