Round robin is all about survival
Penticton opens play at national championships Sunday vs. Brooks
The goal in the round-robin segment of the RBC Cup national junior-A championship is pretty simple as far as Fred Harbinson is concerned.
“You’ve just got to make sure you’re not the one team (out of the five) that gets eliminated,” said the Penticton Vees president, GM and head coach. “If you finish first, great, but the main thing is to be in that top four for the semifinals.”
The Vees arrived in Cobourg, Ont., for the competition on Thursday night and have an extra day to prepare since they don’t play their round-robin opener until Sunday at 12:30 p.m. PDT against the West champion Brooks Bandits from Alberta.
Other teams vying to hoist the RBC Cup are the Central region champs Terrebonne Cougars from Quebec, the East region champs Trenton Golden Hawks from Ontario and the host Cobourg Cougars.
The Vees, playing in their second RBC in three years, come in as the No. 2 team from the West after a stirring 3-2 victory over the Chilliwack Chiefs Sunday at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
“Mentally and physically, we’re really charged up again,” said Harbinson.
The coach felt the Vees were a bit fatigued mentally after going to overtime of Game 7 to beat Chilliwack in the BCHL final, followed by a quick turnaround for the Western Canada Cup, of which Penticton was the host team.
“We want to start (the RBC) off stronger,” said Harbinson. “We’ve had three or four days off to practise and prepare for what’s ahead. Everybody is healthy and ready to go.”
The Vees open up against Brooks — the No. 1 ranked team in the country — and Penticton Vees captain Nicholas Jones and Brooks Bandits goalie Mitchel Benson will get reacquainted in round-robin play at the RBC Cup Sunday afternoon in Cobourg, Ont. winners of the Western Canada Cup in Penticton last week. Brooks stole a 4-3 shootout win over the Vees in the roundrobin on April 30 after rallying with two goals in the last three minutes to tie the game.
“We’re not going to win it or lose it based on what happens on Sunday, but you want to get off to a good start,” said Harbinson. “We know how good of a team Brooks is, but while we respect them, we’re certainly not fearful of them — or anybody else.”
Vees centre Jared Nash said they know what the Bandits are about.
“They are going to be the favourites coming in,” said Nash. “We’re a confident group. We catch them on a back-to-back to start so hopefully we can come away with the win.”
Harbinson said the Vees have done extensive video work on the other three teams.
He said Terrebonne is the team with arguably the most firepower. The host Cougars beat Carleton Place 5-2 in the Central region final on Sunday, ending the Kings’ three-year run as Fred Page Cup champs.
“They’ve got a lot of ex-major junior guys, they can really do damage off the rush, have two lines that really stoke the offence and a 100-point guy on the back end,” said Harbinson.
Harbinson said Trenton and Cobourg are The schedule for Hockey Canada’s RBC Cup national junior-A championship in Cobourg, Ont. (all times PDT):
Saturday: Brooks vs. Trenton, 12:30 p.m.; Terrebonne vs. Cobourg, 4:30 p.m.
Sunday: Penticton vs. Brooks, 12:30 p.m.; Terrebonne vs. Trenton, 4:30 p.m.
Monday: Penticton vs. Cobourg, 4:30 p.m.
Tuesday: Brooks vs. Terrebonne, 12:30 p.m.; Trenton vs. Cobourg, 4:30 p.m.
Wednesday: Penticton vs. Terrebonne, 12:30 p.m.
Thursday: Penticton vs. Trenton, 12:30 p.m.; Cobourg vs. Brooks, 4:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 20: Semifinals (1st vs. 4th, 2nd vs. 3rd), 11:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 21: Championship game, 2 p.m. On the net: www.hockeycanada.ca. both well-coached teams with a good blend of offence and defence.
Hosts Trenton stunned Georgetown Raiders 2-1 in the Dudley Hewitt Cup final, avenging a seven-game loss to the Raiders — ranked No. 2 in the country — in the Ontario league final.
Cobourg won the first two rounds of the Ontario playoffs, but have been idle since April 6 when they were swept 4-0 by Trenton in the semifinals.
“We’re hoping we can exploit their bottom two lines with our depth,” said Harbinson. “When you’re down to five teams, you know they’re all going to provide a stiff challenge.”
In the final CJHL rankings, Brooks was No. 1, Terrebonne No. 3, Trenton No. 10, the Vees No. 17 and Cobourg No. 20.
ICE CHIPS: Vees D Kenny Johnson, injured just before the playoffs started, had shoulder surgery and will be travelling from his family’s home in Michigan to meet up with the team on the weekend. Otherwise, all hands are on deck for the Vees, who are carrying five extra players.