The Comox Valley Glacier Kings are a win away from advancing to the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League playoff championships.
The Icemen knocked off the Peninsula Panthers 3-1 Wednesday night in Courtenay to take a 3-2 lead in their best-of-seven second round playoff series. The Yetis have two chances to send the Panthers packing: Game 6 goes March 14 in Peninsula and, if needed, Game 7 goes March 15 with a 7:30 p.m. start at the Comox Valley Sports Centre.
The great goaltending that has been featured in the Comox Valley vs. Peninsula series continued March 13 in Courtenay as the game was scoreless through two periods. First star Michael Hails stopped 27 shots over the first 40 minutes while second star Stephen Heslop made 17 saves at the other end of the ice.
Peninsula finally solved Hails at 5:04 of the third courtesy of Tylor Branszsen. Then the Yetis' power play went to work.
At 6:54 Eric Margo tied things up with Cody Breitenstein off for delay of game, and Dallas Maxwell put the Icemen in front to stay at 15:01 with Sean Buchanan in the sin bin for boarding.
The Panthers pulled the goalie and Margo slipped the disc into the empty net with 1:09 left in the game. It was Margo's second of the game and sixth of the post-season. The 18-year-old from North Vancouver was the game's third star.
The Glacier Kings went 2-for-7 with the man advantage and successfully killed all six Peninsula power play opportunities.
The winner of this series meets the winner of the Victoria Cougars vs. Campbell River Storm semifinal. The Cougars lead that series 3-1 and have a chance to advance to the finals in Game 5 on March 13.
ICE CHIPS Liam Shaw leads the Yetis' playoff scoring with 10 points (4g, 6a) while Margo is next with nine points (6g, 3a) … Hails has four wins in six games and leads in save percentage with .959 while Blake Pearson has won all three games he's appeared in …