The Northwest Giants earned a berth in yet another B.C. Major Midget Hockey League playoff championship.
The perennial defending regular season champions dispatched the Greater Vancouver Canadians 2-0 in the best-of-three playoff semifinal at the Burnaby Winter Club last Saturday.
The Burnaby-based club took the opening game 2-1 on Friday with first-period goals by Quinn Thompson and defenceman Dante Fabbro, who scored the eventual game-winner less than a minute later.
On Saturday, Greater Vancouver struck first with a goal by Alex Whitwham late in the first period.
But Burnaby’s Keyvan Mokhtari, with his first of two goals on the night, tied it up in the middle frame.
Colton Kerfoot tallied the game-winning goal, sparking an unanswered three-goal splurge in the final period. Burnaby’s Justin Szeto and Fabbro, with his first of two helpers in the game, drew assists on the Kerfoot goal.
Mokhtari and Thompson also scored in the third period.
"I was not happy on Friday, we let up a bit," said Giants head coach Clint Thornton. "But on Saturday, I was very happy. That's the kind of game we wanted to get into, get up and let our defence dictate the game."
The Okanagan Rockets earned a spot in their second straight playoff final, edging the Valley West Hawks in a wild three-game series that generated 29 total goals, including a 7-6 win by the Kelowna-based club in the final game Sunday.
"We just really want to focus on what we can do. We don't want to get into a shootout with the Rockets," said Thornton. "I don't contemplate Okanagan is going to m ake that mistake against us. I think they will come ready to play."
Last season, the Giants defeated Okanagan in a closely fought three-game final that was decided on a 1-0 scoreline in the tiebreaker.
The Giants will face the Okanagan Rockets, including February's player of the month Tyson Jost, who scored 15 goals and had 26 points in eight games last month, in a best-of-three final at the Burnaby Winter Club, beginning Friday, March 21.
Game 2 is scheduled for Saturday, March 22. Both games are 6:30 p.m. starts.
If necessary, a third and deciding game will be played on Sunday at 11 a.m.
