Vees, Warriors not looking past first round
All three of the Okanagan’s teams are making final preparations ahead of the start of the BC Hockey League playoffs later this week.
The first round of the Interior Conference playoffs will see league champion Penticton Vees (43-8-1-2-0) battle the Trail Smoke Eaters (20-29-2-2-1), and the red-hot West Kelowna Warriors (37-16-10-0) take on the Vernon Vipers (2720-4-3-0).
All playoff series are best-ofseven format. Conference champions will be decided in three rounds. The conference winners will square off in one final series for the Fred Page Cup.
The Vees enter the playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the Interior Conference on the strength of their league-best record, while the Smoke Eaters squeaked into the eight and final playoff berth.
Penticton won all five games against Trail during the regular season by a combined score of 3114, which included an 8-2 drubbing in their last meeting March 5.
Still, the Vees’ coach doesn’t expect any trouble keeping his players focused on the task at hand.
“It’s actually really easy because two of the five games (against Trail in the regular season) went to overtime, and more importantly, players nowadays watch what goes in the NHL and all the way down, and every year if you take a team lightly it’s a recipe for
disaster,” said Fred Harbinson, who also serves as the club’s general manager and president.
“I can sense that there’s not one guy taking this series lightly. I think there’s a lot of respect (for Trail) for just getting into the playoffs.”
It will surprise no one that Harbinson plans to start No. 1 netminder Kaeden Lane, whose 28 wins in the regular season put him in a two-way tie for first place among BCHL goalies. Lane also posted a league-best six shutouts and a 2.07 goals-against average that was second-best in the BCHL.
“He’s been our No. 1 guy all year, but we have two capable guys,” added Harbinson, referencing backup Carter Serhyenko, who forged a 10-2 record in the regular season after joining the club in late December following three campaigns with the Prince Albert Raiders of the Western Hockey League.
“We’re comfortable with both goaltenders – and more importantly, our team is comfortable playing in front of both goaltenders,” said Harbinson.
Games 1 and 2 are set for Thursday and Friday at the South
Okanagan Events Centre, with puck drop at 7 p.m. each night.
Games 3 and 4 are set for April 4-5 in Trail. If necessary, the final three games of the series would shift back and forth between the two cities, with Game 7 slated for April 11 at the SOEC.
The Warriors and Vipers will renew hostilities on Friday night at Royal LePage Place with Game 2 slated for Saturday. The puck drops at 7 p.m. each night.
West Kelowna, the No. 3 seed, held a 3-2 edge in the season series against the No. 6 seed Vipers. The clubs last squared off March 20 with the Warriors winning 6-1.
Warriors coach Simon Ferguson, whose squad reeled off 10 straight wins to end the regular season, said that game is still fresh in his players’ minds even if it means nothing now.
“We try to build off it, but we know we were playing a (Vipers) team that was a little bit depleted,” said Ferguson.
The coach confirmed 20-year-old Johnny Derrick will start the series in net, after posting a 24-111-0 record in the regular season alongside a 0.902 save percentage and 3.02 goals-against average.
Derrick is among five veterans who suited up for the club’s last playoff run in 2020, which ended with a first-round loss to the Vees.
Games 3 and 4 are set for April 4-5 in Vernon.
In other first-round matchups, the Salmon Arm Silverbacks take on the Wenatchee Wild, while the Prince George Spruce Kings square off against the Cranbrook Bucks.