Cowichan Valley Capitals head coach Mike Vandekamp doesn’t like to use the phrase “nothing to play for.”
Even though the Cowichan Valley Capitals couldn’t gain or lose anything as far as the B.C. Hockey League standings were concerned, there were still reasons for his players to perform their best in their last two regular-season games on the weekend. With the exception of one period on Sunday afternoon, they played up to Vandekamp’s expectations.
“We worked on our game as best we could, and tried to have our best habits in check,” the coach said. “We did a good job until the third period of Sunday’s game.”
The Caps beat the Alberni Valley Bulldogs 3-2 on Saturday night, in Cowichan’s last home game of the regular season.
The teams went into the third period tied at 1-1. Just past the five-minute mark, Cruz Cote put the Caps ahead with a powerplay goal, but the Bulldogs responded just 12 seconds later to tie things once again. Brady Lynn’s goal at 11:04 of the third, however, stood up as the winner.
Dimitri Mikrogiannakis had the Caps’ first-period goal, also on the powerplay. Jack Grant made 17 saves on the Cowichan net as his teammates outshot the Bulldogs 38-19.
The spirited affair included a pair of fights as Cowichan’s Adam Conquest squared off with Alberni’s Isaac Tonkin-Palmer — a product of the Kerry Park Minor Hockey Association — in the second period, and Capitals blueliner Timber Lewis traded punches with Alberni’s Ryan Novecosky in the third.
The Caps led 3-2 going into the third period of their road game against the Victoria Grizzlies on Sunday, but were outscored 5-1 over the final 20 minutes.
Luc Wilson and Niko Esposito-Selivanov scored for the Caps in the first period and Cote scored in the second. Lynn had Cowichan’s lone goal in the third. Esposito-Selivanov finished with a goal and an assist, and Cole Broadhurst and Doug Scott each had two helpers.
Grant allowed six goals on 27 shots, and the Grizzlies scored once into an empty net. Victoria goalie Zachary Rose allowed four goals on 29 shots.
It was announced during the third period of Saturday’s game that the Penticton Vees had won their game against Salmon Arm, clinching first place in the Interior Division and a first-round showdown with the Caps. After missing the playoffs a year ago, the Caps are looking forward to their return to the postseason.
“We’re excited to be in the playoffs, obviously,” Vandekamp said. “It’s a step in the right direction from where the team was a year ago. Our first goal would have been to not be the crossover team, but we knew we would have to play a good team in the first round, no matter what.”
The Caps finished the regular season with a record of 17 wins, 35 regulation losses, five overtime losses and one shootout loss, to place fifth in the Island Division. Vandekamp feels his team has improved significantly in the last couple of months.
“The position we are in has more to do with the team we were in the first half than the team we are now,” he said. “Are we underdogs? Sure we are. But I don’t think we see ourselves as one as much as outsiders do.”
The Vees went 37-16-3-2 to place first in the Interior Division.
“They’re a good team,” Vandekamp said. “Obviously, they’re the top team in the Interior conference ad one of the top teams in the league. They’ve got depth from the goal net out.”
Vandekamp coached the Nanaimo Clippers when they faced the Vees in the 2015 league finals, and he expects that experience to prove useful in this series.
“I’ve got a lot of experience head-to-head in the playoffs with their coach [Fred Harbinson],” Vandekamp said. “They’re in a different conference, but there’s familiarity on a personal level. Am I going to be able to relay that experience to the players in a way that makes sense? Hopefully.”
The Vees play as a team, and are not based around individual players, Vandekamp said. That’s the same type of team Vandekamp has been trying to build in Cowichan.
“We do match up in some ways,” he said. “If we are playing our best game, we will be very similar in style to what they play. We’ll have to play hard and be really disciplined. Our boys are going to have to be ready for how hard they’re going to play.”
The series will open with games in Penticton on Thursday and Saturday, and the teams will face off at the Cowichan Arena next Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 p.m.
If necessary, game five will be played in Penticton on March 9, game six will go in Duncan on March 11, and game seven will be in Penticton on March 13.