For just the second time in franchise history, the Greater Vancouver Canadians have advanced to the B.C Major Midget Hockey League championship series.
The regional rep team is off to Prince George this weekend for a best-of-three series with the regular season champion Cariboo Cougars, starting Friday afternoon. The Canadians secured their first trip to the finals in eight years with a thrilling 5-3 victory Sunday over the Vancouver Northeast Chiefs in the third and deciding game.
“It was a good motivator for us and something we discussed between the second and third periods,” said GM and head coach Phil Alalouf of the finals drought. “It’s the first time since I have been with this team and it’s very exciting for our program.”
The Canadians looked to be in a heap of trouble in their semi-final series opener on Friday night in Coquitlam.
The Chiefs jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead and the league’s second place team seemed poised to make short work of the No. 4 seed. However, captain Scott Atkinson put Greater Vancouver on the board late in the opening 20 minutes and the comeback was on.
The visitors scored three more times in the second period, led by a pair of power play goals from defenceman Owen Williams. The Regina Pats prospect then completed his hat trick on another man advantage opportunity to break a 4-4 tie. Noah Kelly added a late insurance goal to close out a huge 6-4 victory.
A similar script unfolded in game two on Saturday night when the Chiefs made it 3-0 midway through the first period. Michael Araki-Young made it a two-goal game but there would be no big rally this time.
The hosts opened up a 5-1 lead and cruised to a 7-3 victory to force a deciding game. That proved to be a blessing in disguise according to Alalouf.
“Obviously game one was a real heart stopper but the pivotal point of the series was falling behind again the next night and not being able to come back. It showed the boys that, regardless of how much talent they have, they can’t keep falling behind like that and expect to win,” he said.
The coaching staff also changed up its strategy for the deciding game, breaking up the dangerous trio of top Western Hockey League prospects — Sasha Mutula, Henry Rybinski and Atkinson — for a more balanced approach. It resulted in not only a better start but fresher legs in the third period as Atkinson completed his hat trick to open up a 3-1 lead.
Rybinski made it 4-1 on the power play, before the Chiefs made it interesting with a pair of goals. An empty net goal from Kelly with 21 seconds remaining sealed one of the team’s biggest ever playoff wins.
The Canadians now head north, looking to thrive as underdogs again against a Cariboo team that went 34-5-1 in the regular season and swept all four league meetings. Greater Vancouver was missing seven regulars for its most recent visit to Prince George a month ago, including Atkinson, Rybinski and Williams.
The finalists have vastly different rosters. The Cougars are loaded with experience with 11 1999-born players and have reached the finals the last two years.
The Canadians have just one 1999 in their line-up and lean on 15-and-16-year-olds with a good number headed to junior next season.
“The funny thing is our evaluation camp is March 31 and guys are asking each other if they are coming back or not while we are making this run,” laughed Alalouf. “We do have quite a few guys who are likely one and done here. That’s why we are going up there to win this thing.”
The series winner will host the Alberta Major Midget champion for a berth in the Telus Cup.
