Though the 性视界传媒 Eagles won just one of three games on the weekend, it was enough to secure the second seed in the B.C. Hockey League鈥檚 Coastal Conference playoff picture, with just one weekend left in the regular season.
性视界传媒 has three games remaining, and sits three points up on the third-place Langley Chiefs, who have just one game left. No matter what happens in the final week of action, the Chiefs cannot catch 性视界传媒 in the standings. Fourth-place Victoria, six points back with two games left, can鈥檛 catch them either.
The Powell River Kings 鈥� whom the Eagles beat 6-4 Friday 鈥� ran away with first place, thus securing a first-round playoff bye.
鈥淭hat was our goal heading into the weekend, to lock up that second spot,鈥� said Eagles coach Matt Erhart.
鈥淧owell River was a big test for us, but we responded well and were able to get it done.鈥�
The Eagles will now face off against the seventh seed, which could still be any one of three teams 鈥� the Alberni Valley Bulldogs, Coquitlam Express or Cowichan Valley Capitals.
The Bulldogs are currently in sixth position with a five-point lead on both Coquitlam and Cowichan, with the latter two squads tied for the final playoff spot. If the Bulldogs win just one of their final two games, they鈥檒l finish sixth, leaving the Express and Caps to fight for the final spot and a date with the Eagles in the first round. Coquitlam 鈥� who sit 21 points back of the Eagles 鈥� holds the advantage in the playoff race, with one game in hand over Cowichan.
Erhart, as one might expect, said his team doesn鈥檛 much care who they play in the first round.
鈥淚 always go into these things saying the same thing 鈥� that you鈥檙e going to have to beat everybody at some point anyway, if you want to go all the way, so it really doesn鈥檛 matter to us.鈥�
On Friday, the Eagles jumped out to a big lead on the road against the high-powered Kings, and led 4-0 after the first period on goals from Josh Monk, Colton Mackie and captain Tyler Morley, who had a pair.
Powell River fought back in the middle stanza, however, cutting the lead to 4-3, until Brad McGowan and Brandon Morley restored 性视界传媒鈥檚 multi-goal lead, which they held onto the rest of the way.
Karel St. Laurent stopped 34 shots to earn the victory between the pipes.
Whatever positives the Eagles took from knocking off the league鈥檚 top team were scuttled one day later, after a 5-1 loss to Victoria.
Like the Eagles the night before, the Griz jumped out to an early lead, and were up 3-0 thanks to three power-play goals in the final seven minutes of the first period.
Monk made it 3-1 in the second period, with a power-play goal of his own, but Victoria tacked on two more markers in the third period.
鈥淎fter Friday鈥檚 win, and getting that (second) spot, there was a bit of a hangover on Saturday night. We really didn鈥檛 play all that well, especially the first period,鈥� Erhart said.
The story was much the same less than a day later, when Alberni Valley edged the visiting Eagles 3-1 on Sunday afternoon.
The home side led 2-1 after the first, and 3-1 after 40 minutes to cruise to victory. Alberni was 2-for-6 on the power play, while the Eagles struggled with the man-advantage, failing to connect on six opportunities.
Tyler Morley scored 性视界传媒鈥檚 lone goal.
Scoring race
Heading into the final weekend of the season, Eagles鈥� forward Brad McGowan still sits one point shy of top spot in the BCHL scoring race.
With 85 points, he trails both Salmon Arm鈥檚 Mike Hammond and Cowichan鈥檚 Jordan Grant, both of whom have 86.
McGowan has three games left, Grant has just two, and Hammond鈥檚 Silverbacks鈥� have four yet to play.
