RBC Cup hosts sent to sidelines as rest of BCHL playoffs continue
Jason Tatarnic won’t have to reach too far for a story to tell his Chilliwack Chiefs now that they have a long wait for the RBC Cup.
The Chiefs, under general manager/coach Tatarnic, will host that five-team national Junior A hockey tournament May 12-20 at their Prospera Centre home. That’ll be the next time they step on the ice for game action, too, since they were eliminated from the BCHL playoffs Sunday, losing 3-1 on the road to the Prince George Spruce Kings to fall in seven games in the opening round.
It’s about as bad a scenario as you can get, this sitting idle for some nine weeks. but teams have found ways to still flourish, including the 2005 Weyburn Red Wings, who won the RBC Cup on home ice after being eliminated in seven games in the Saskatchewan first round by the Humboldt Broncos.
Tatarnic was an assistant coach with that Humboldt team.
“You look back at some past things,” Tatarnic said. “You look at that Weyburn team. You look at Windsor (the Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League), who lost in the OHL first round and ended up winning the Memorial Cup last year as hosts.
“We have a plan. We’ve executed the first part of it, sending the guys home to get some rest and recovery. We want to get them away from hockey for a bit, and then we want to come back fresh and reinvigorated for about a six-week preparation phase.
“We’re obviously disappointed. We felt we could have won that series. But we have another opportunity to be in the national tournament and when we get back together we’re going to put our heads together and come up with ways that we can be successful.”
RBC Cup host teams have made the tournament final three straight years, winning twice, including last spring’s Cobourg Cougars, the Ontario side that beat Alberta’s Brooks Bandits 3-2 in overtime in the championship. Cobourg lost in the third round of their league playoffs, which left them sitting idle for about a month.
Chilliwack finished fourth in the five-team Mainland Division and 12th overall in the 17-team BCHL, with a 26-26-3-3 mark. They were 16 points behind the Spruce Kings (33-17-4-4), who won the Mainland and had the fourth-best mark overall.
Prince George will now face the Surrey Eagles in the best-of-seven second round, starting with game today in Prince George. The Eagles (26-22-8-2) finished third in the Mainland and 10th overall.
The most compelling of the four second-round series pits the Vernon Vipers (39-14-1-4) against Wenatchee Wild (37-16-4-1), who were second and third in the Interior Division, as well as in the league overall.
The Penticton Vees (40-12-3-3) won the Interior and the overall title and are taking on the Trail Smoke Eaters (32-21-4-1) in the other Interior second-round set.
The winner between Surrey and Prince George will face the winner of an Island series between the Powell River Kings (29-19-64) and the Victoria Grizzlies (3218-4-4).