On the strength of two high scoring victories on the Island last weekend, the SFU Clan hockey team locked up home ice advantage for the first round of the B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League playoffs.
By defeating UVic 7-2 and Vancouver Island University 9-1, SFU leapfrogged into second place to finish the regular season at 15-7-0-2, behind just first-place Trinity Western.
“The guys are excited. We play amongst family and friends, and Bill Copeland’s a nice arena to be in; it’s a pretty fun place to play when it’s filled,” said head coach Mark Coletta. “Guys get to sleep in their own beds, focus on their studies for the week without worrying about travel -- I think that’s pretty important for our guys. Last change is important, especially against a team like VIU.”
On Friday’s victory over UVic, 12 different players recorded a point, led by Jacob Lecasse’s three-point effort. The Burnaby Winter Club alum drew an assist on Christian Bosa’s opening goal 8:21 into the contest, and would tally the team’s sixth marker. He also set up the final goal, by Arjan Cheema, early in the third.
Eric Callegari and McKullen Astill also put up first period goals to give SFU A 3-0 before Victoria’s Joe Olson put the home team on the board.
Ty Westgard, Arjun Badh, and Lacasse repeated the feat in the second period, as SFU built up a 6-1 lead.
Burnaby’s Mateo Coltellaro also counted three points, all assists. Andrew Henderson made 32 saves on 34 shots.
In Nanaimo on Saturday, Lecasse would also make a hefty contribution as SFU started slowly but finished with a big bang, scoring five times in the third period.
Lecasse notched a pair of goals, with singles from McKullen Astill, Mac Colasimone, Takato Cox, Mathieu Jallabert, Ty Westgard and Badh.
Patrick Zubick had a busy night, stopping 39 of 40 shots.
“We utilized our team speed, in our d-zone we kept them to the outside for the most part, and we eliminated odd man rushes,” said Coletta.
The Mariners will provide the opposition in the first round of the playoffs, which begin Friday, and will see a best of three series, all hosted at the Bill Copeland Sports Centre. The series winner will face the victor of the Trinity Western-Selkirk College series for the BCIHL Finals.
“Playoffs are a different animal, we don’t expect a 9-1 result again, and obviously VIU’s a quality team and they’re going to be a tough contest for us next week,” said Coletta. “They’re a big strong team so we need to get to the dirty areas, even though they’re going to be boxing out and playing that rough style of hockey. I think our guys are ready for the task.”
The series opens Friday for Game 1, with Game 2 on Saturday. A third game, if necessary, will be played on Sunday. All games begin at 7 p.m.
