Simon Fraser University didn’t let a first-place team get in the way of a good playoff run.
The fourth-place, regular-season-finishing Clan polished off league champion Trinity Western University in straight games in the opening round of the B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League playoffs.
SFU stole a 3-2 decision over the first-place Spartans on a third-period goal by first star Adam Callegari at the Langley Events Centre last Thursday.
Callegari also gave the 12-12 Clan a one-goal lead with his first of the game on a power play in the opening period. Teammate Jono Ceci made the score 2-1 midway through the second period. Jordan Liem was solid in goal for the Clan, making 34 stops.
On Friday, Callegari sparked a three-goal third period that sent SFU through to the playoff final following a 6-4 win over Trinity Western at the Bill Copeland Sports Centre in the best-of-three playoff.
Liem was called on to make just 16 saves for his second playoff win in goal.
Ceci shaved a first-period deficit to 2-1 on a power play, while game star Trent Murdoch briefly tied the game at 3-3 in the middle period with his second goal in the stanza.
In the third, Callegari and Murdoch teamed up for the game-tying goal, before Jesse Mysiorek, with the game-winner, and Nick Sandor, both scored less than four minutes apart for the win.
SFU also ended the regular season with a pair of back-to-back wins over the Langley school.
“I think we did a good job fixing some of the problems we had earlier in the year,” said Clan head coach Mark Coletta.
The change came at the wrong time for the league champs.
Last season, a 10-13-0-1 Trinity Western team knocked off runner-up SFU in three games in the first round of playoffs.
“It’s a disappointing end to a season that had so much promise and potential,” said TWU coach Barret Kropf in a Langley press release. “(SFU) fed us the same medicine that we gave them last year.”
The Clan will take on the defending B.C. Intercollegiate champions Selkirk College in the first of a best-of-three final series in the unfriendly confines of the Castlegar rec centre, beginning on Friday, March 13.
Coletta relishes the idea of walking into a hostile environment to complete SFU’s playoff march.
“There’s nothing better than being on the road. It’s motivating,” Coletta said. “(Castlegar) is a good place to play. … We know the type of guys we got.”
