The Comox Valley Glacier Kings are through to the second round of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League playoffs.
Duncan Pernal's goal at 2:44 of the first overtime period Monday night in Saanich gave the Yetis a 3-2 win over the Braves and a sweep of their best-of-seven series. The Icemen will have home-ice advantage in the next round of post-season play when they meet the Peninsula Panthers.
The locals have booked ice time on Tuesday, March 4 (7 p.m.) for Game 1, Saturday March 8 (7:30 p.m.) for Game 3 and if necessary Wednesday, March 12 (7 p.m.) for Game 5 and Saturday, March 15 (7:30 p.m.) for Game 7. Unconfirmed dates in Peninsula are Game 2 Friday, March 7, Game 4 Monday March 10 and if necessary Game 6 Friday, March 14.
The winner of Comox Valley (North Division #1) vs. Peninsula (South Division #2) will meet the winner of Victoria Cougars (South Division #1) vs. Campbell River Storm (North Division #2) or Nanaimo Buccaneers (North Division #3) in the VIJHL playoff championships.
The Yetis played catch-up most of the way Monday night at George Pearkes Arena. The Braves led 1-0 after one period, with the visitors pulling even at 3:17 of the second on Jonas Horvath's power-play goal.
Former Glacier King Sasha Hahn put the Braves back on top at 16:38 of the second, and things looked bleak for the G-Kings as the clock ticked down in the third and they could not beat Saanich goalie Eric Palliser. But with just 1:30 to play and Comox Valley goalie Blake Pearson pulled for the extra attacker, Derian Hamilton hammered home a loose puck from a goal-crease scramble to send the game into OT, where another scramble in front of Palliser allowed Pernal to jam home the game winner and series clincher.
The Glacier Kings out-shot the Braves 35-31 and went 1-for-3 on the power play. They will welcome some time off before locking horns with the Panthers. They lost three players due to injury Monday (Eric Margo, Wil Finlay and Quinlan Moore) and are hoping to have goalie Michael Hails (who hurt his knee in the first game of the Saanich series) healthy for the second round.
ICE CHIPS The Yetis have two players in the top 10 of playoff scoring; Liam Shaw (3g, 5a) is tied for third with eight points while Dallas Maxwell (4g, 1a) is sixth with five points … the fourth game of the Campbell River-Nanaimo series was cancelled due to snow and was played Wednesday night, with result unavailable at press time … the Panthers knocked off the Westshore Wolves 4-1 in their opening round series …