The Aldergrove Kodiaks thrived in a building where a visiting team had not won in over four months.
The Kodiaks took three of four games from the Richmond Sockeyes at Minoru Arenas, including a 5-1 game seven victory on Monday night to capture the Pacific Junior Hockey League championship in front of a near capacity crowd.
Heading into the best-of-seven showdown, the Sockeyes had not lost on home ice since Nov. 21 — part of remarkable stretch that saw the defending champions win 33 of 34 games. However, the Kodiaks thrived at Minoru and only a huge Sockeyes’ comeback in game two prevented them from winning all four road games.
“I really can’t explain it but it’s a bigger ice surface and that really helps us,” said winning coach Brad Rihela. “There is a lot of room behind the nets and it allows for our defencemen to have space and time.”
The Kodiaks also got off to terrific starts, outscoring Richmond by a combined score of 9-1 in the opening period over the four road games.
Spencer McHattie set the tone in Monday’s decisive battle with a pair of first period goals. Aldergrove would open up a 4-0 lead by the 6:33 mark of the middle stanza before Daniel Oakley finally gave the hometown crowd something to cheer about. The excitement was short-lived as the visitors responded less than a minute later, chasing starting goalie Kootenay Alder.
“The natural approach is you are more focused on the road because there is a sense of adversity,” said Sockeyes head coach Judd Lambert who watched his team win games one and four in Aldergrove. “You think you are in a favourable position with home ice advantage but when you’re playing catch up in every game against that team, more often than not, you’re not going to be successful.”
Richmond seemed to have a stranglehold on the series after producing a 4-3 road win last Wednesday to take a commanding 3-1 lead and was back to Minoru 24 hours later for game five. Lambert knew there was still plenty of work to be done and the Kodiaks proved his point with a dominating 3-0 victory behind the shutout goaltending of Jordan Liem.
“People were getting ahead of themselves,” said Lambert. You got the impression we were expected to beat Aldergrove because we were up 3-1 in the series and won the first game 7-1. I don’t think people appreciate how good they are. They are an incredibly good team with so many good forwards that there really is no breaks or let ups when you play them.
“We had to beat a very good team one more time and we couldn’t do it. The better team won the series.”
The Kodiaks will now represent the PJHL in next week’s Cyclone Taylor Cup in Nelson. They are a good bet to win the provincial title and represent B.C. at the upcoming Keystone Cup Western Canadian Championships in Abbotsford. The Sockeyes brought out the best in them, a fact not lost on their coach.
“Richmond is phenomenal team with a fantastic coach,” added Rihela. “Their entire organization is nothing but class. It’s a real honour for me to help our guys get where they are now. They are so resilient and have persevered through everything. They deserve all the credit for this.”
It was still a remarkable season for a Sockeyes team that was expected to go through a rebuilding campaign after losing 75 percent of their roster. Instead, they came within a game of repeating as champions with a bunch of rookies leading the way.
“The recipe for championships in this league isn’t 16-and-17-year-olds being your go to guys, it’s the 19-and-20-year-olds like the Kodiaks have this year and the Sockeyes had last,” added Lambert. “This is the most fun I have had coaching in the six years I have done this. I knew only two of these players before the season started and I’m proud of the way they came together as a team. We won 33 of 34 games. That’s unheard of.”
Lambert added he expects a number of his players to jump to the higher levels of junior hockey next season. Leading scorer John Wesley, 16, has already signed with the Vancouver Giants.
