The sprint towards the Pacific Junior Hockey League championship started Wednesday night for the Richmond Sockeyes.
After taking over five months to complete a 44-game regular season schedule, the PJHL playoffs are typically compacted into a tight time frame. The Sockeyes opening round series with the Grandview Steelers is no exception.
The best-of-seven series got underway at the Burnaby Winter Club with the Sockeyes prevailing 2-1. By Sunday night, the teams will have already played four games. Games two and three go at Minoru Arenas on Thursday (7 p.m.) and Saturday (5:45 p.m.) before the rivals head back to Burnaby on Sunday afternoon.
Rookie Nicholas Wicks provided the difference in the opener as his third period power play goal broke a 1-1 deadlock. Captain Jordan Andrews also scored with the man advantage back in the second period, while Kurt Russell was solid in net.
If the regular season is any indication, it’s going to take more than four games to decide this Tom Shaw Conference match-up.
Not only did the teams finish just three points apart in the regular season standings, five of the six regular season meetings went to overtime. The Sockeyes had been snake-bitten until finally pulling out a 5-4 road win on Sunday night. The result moved them past Delta and into third place to set-up a series with Grandview for the second straight year. Last season, Grandview won in seven.
The Steelers feature plenty of experience on their roster with six 20-year-olds, including leading scorer Timothy Chow and goaltender Cole MacInnes. They also added 20-year-old sniper Jake Holland from Ridge Meadows at the league roster deadline. Adam Rota, son of former Vancouver Canuck Darcy Rota, is another key player up front.
In contrast, the Sockeyes have gone with a youth movement this season with only a trio of 20-year-olds and 14 rookies. They do have experience between the pipes in third-year stopper Kurt Russell who finished with a 2.74 goals against average and two shutouts.
A goal from blueliner Sam Atkins provided the difference in Sunday’s win. Andrews sent the game into overtime with a power player goal with eight minutes remaining. Tyler Paterson, Brodie Crawford and Kyle Uy had the other Richmond goals.
The winner of this series will face defending PJHL champion North Vancouver Wolf Pack or the Delta Ice Hawks in the Shaw Conference finals. Delta surprised the Wolf Pack with a 5-0 victory in game one Tuesday.
