The Northwest Giants held off the Northeast Chiefs to finish second in the B.C. major midget hockey league.
The Giants shutout the lowly Kootenay Ice in both meetings of a two-game set last weekend to end the 40-game regular season with a record of 26-10-4. The Chiefs finished one point behind in third.
The Cariboo Cougars placed first in league play with a 29-8-3 mark.
The Giants will take on the seventh-place South Island Royals in a best-of-three quarter-final at the Burnaby Winter Club this weekend.
Game 1 tonight (Friday) at 7:30 p.m. Game 2 follows on Saturday at 7:45 p.m. If necessary, a Game 3 will be played Sunday at 9:30 a.m.
In other quarter-final matchups, Cariboo takes on Fraser Valley; the Chiefs and Valley West tangle; and Okanagan faces Greater Vancouver.
In last weekend’s series versus the Ice, Desi Burgart and Josh Latta both scored two goals to lead the Giants to 6-0 in the weekend opener. Keegan Jones added a goal and two assists, while Justin Wilson also chipped in with three helpers for the winners.
The Giants also blanked Kootenay 2-0 in the second game on goals by Mateo Coltellaro of Burnaby and Carter Stephenson.
Giants goalies David Tendeck and Beck Warm both finished among the top five keepers following the regular season, with respective goals against averages of 2.21 and 2.48 per game.
Jones led the Giants in overall scoring with a team-high 24 goals and 44 points.
Greater Vancouver Canadians forward Owen Seidel led the major midget league with 17 goals and a chart-topping 50 assists.
Valley West Hawks defenceman Matt Barberis led all blue-liners in scoring with 13 goals and 53 points. He also racked up 145 penalty minutes.
