Storm come up short at Cyclone Taylor Cup
The Campbell River Storm indeed had a stormy time of it in the 2018 Fred Cyclone Taylor Cup at Minoru Arena in Richmond. The Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League champions placed last in the four-team tournament after losing 7-1 to the Kimberley Dynamiters in the bronze-medal game Sunday afternoon.
That came after Campbell River had routed the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League-champion Dynamiters 9-0 just the night before to finish 1-1-1 in the round-robin portion of the tournament.
The host Richmond Sockeyes defeated the Pacific Junior Leaguechampion Delta Ice Hawks 5-1 in the gold-medal game.
The tournament, named after the early B.C. hockey pioneer and hall of famer, is for the Junior B championship of the province.
The Storm did not get off to an auspicious start with a 4-1 loss to the Sockeyes in the opening game of the tournament Thursday. Campbell River was then dealt an overtime loss Friday by Delta.
This was the Storm’s third trip to the Cyclone Taylor Cup in four years after also winning the VIJHL titles in 2015 and 2017. They were Cyclone Taylor Cup champions in 2015 and lost in the 2017 provincial championship game to the Beaver Valley Nitehawks from the Kootenays.
The Storm will have an automatic berth next April when they host the 2019 Cyclone Taylor Cup. The games will take place at Rod Brind’Amour Arena, named after the Campbell River hockey product and former Stanley Cup-winning captain of the Carolina Hurricanes.
The four 2018 Cyclone Taylor Cup teams gathered at centre ice before the first game of the tournament to honour the victims of the Humboldt Broncos crash. All proceeds from the tournament 50/50 draw will be donated to the Broncos memorial fund.
Campbell River topped the VIJHL regular-season standings at 36-6-6, before defeating the Peninsula Panthers 4-1 in the first round of the playoffs, sweeping the Westshore Wolves 4-0 in the semifinals and rallying from a 3-2 series deficit in the final to outscore the Saanich Braves 10-0 over the final two games.