Playoff format changing again

For the second straight season, 16 of the 17 teams will make the B.C. Hockey League playoffs, though a new format will eliminate the first-round bye in the Interior Division.

A Task Force Committee created in June 2017 by the BCHL Board of Governors recommended the format for the 2018 BCHL playoffs, though the Board voted to keep the league’s three-division alignment for the regular season.

The 2018 B.C. Ford Dealers Road to the Fred Page Cup BCHL Playoffs will adhere to the following structure:

The top-four teams from both the Island and Mainland Divisions will qualify for the playoffs and will be seeded No. 1 to No. 4.

In the Interior Division, which has seven teams now that the Wenatchee Wild have joined, the top-six teams will qualify for the playoffs, seeded No. 1 to No. 6.

The last-place team from each division (Island fifth place, Mainland fifth place and Interior seventh place) will be eligible to compete in the Interior Division as the No. 7 or 8 seed in the opening round.

The top two of the three last-place teams, determined by regular-season points total, will go into the Interior Division for Round 1.

The Island and/or Mainland team crossing over will be the No. 7 or No. 8 seed if they have a higher points total than the Interior last-place team.

Last season, both the Penticton Vees and Vernon Vipers got byes in the first round of the playoffs.

All playoffs rounds will be a best-ofseven format. The winner of the Island versus Mainland Coastal final will play the winner of the Interior Division in the Fred Page Cup BCHL Final.

Meanwhile, in Wednesday’s lone game, Bennett Norlin scored with 45 seconds left in the first overtime period to give the visiting West Kelowna Warriors a 5-4 win over the Coquitlam Express after the Warriors blew a two-goal lead in the last minute of regulation.

Calvin Tilsley, R.J. Murphy, Chase Dubois and Jared Marino also scored for the Warriors, who led 1-0 and 2-1 at the period breaks and outshot Coquitlam 46-36. West Kelowna (6-3-0) took over sole possession of third place in the Interior Division.

Alex Ambrosio, Joshua Wildauer, Jordan Schulting and Eric Linell clicked for Coquitlam (1-6-1-1).

Marino’s goal with 1:18 to play appeared to clinch the win for the visitors, but Schulting, with 56 seconds left, and Linell, with 29 seconds to go, tied it for the Express and at least earned them a point.