The Kerry Park Islanders missed a chance to improve their playoff seeding last weekend as they gave up substantial leads and lost their last two games of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League regular season.
The Isles could have finished as high as second in the South Division and fourth in the league, securing home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs, but a 6-5 loss to the Peninsula Panthers on Friday and a 5-4 overtime defeat by the Westshore Wolves prevented that from happening.
“In Peninsula it was a bit of a lack of focus going into the third,” Kerry Park head coach Aaron Spotts said. “In the first two periods, we did a lot of positive things, but I think we learned early this season that if you can’t put together a full effort, you’re not going to get the results you want.”
The Isles led the Panthers 3-2 after the first period on Friday, thanks to goals by Avery Nielsen-Webb, Keenan Eddy and Joe Leakey. Two more from Braydon Nelson put Kerry Park up 5-2 in the second, but four unanswered goals — one in the second and three more in the third — propelled the Panthers to victory.
Parker Swanson got the start in the Kerry Park net and stopped 33 of 39 shots. The Isles went 0-for-3 on the powerplay, while the Panthers scored on one of their two man advantages.
Spotts was happy with the way his team rebounded for Saturday’s game against Westshore, which they led 4-0 after 20 minutes. Spotts felt the result was more about luck than a lack of effort or focus.
“Westshore capitalized on a couple of bounces,” he said. “The guys didn’t let that one slip away.”
Eddy and Brandon Wilson each had a goal and an assist in the first period, and Tanner Tiel and Ty Smith also scored. The Isles watched their lead disappear over the next 40 minutes, the tying goal coming on the powerplay after Nielsen-Webb was handed an extra two minutes for allegedly instigating a fight with Westshore’s Clark Pickup. The teams remained deadlocked through five minutes of four-on-four overtime, but the Wolves scored with exactly two minutes left in the three-on-three session. Chase Anderson had a busy night in the Kerry Park net, making 47 saves on 52 shots.
The Isles finished up the regular season with 21 wins, 21 losses, no ties, and six overtime defeats, and are up against the 26-17-2-3 Saanich Braves in the best-of-seven VIJHL quarterfinals. The teams split their regular-season series 4-4, but the Braves have won four of the last five meetings, including the last three straight.
The series kicked off on Tuesday at George Pearkes Arena, and continues Wednesday at Kerry Park at 7:30 p.m., Friday at George Pearkes at 6:30 p.m., and Saturday at Kerry Park at 7:30 p.m.
The Braves have been hot lately, and are led by their goalie, Riley Mathieson, who was named league MVP on Sunday after compiling a 18-17-2 record, a 2.60 goals-against average, and .925 save percentage.
“Going into their building, we’ve had a lot of success there, especially the core of players we’ve had the last couple of years,” Spotts said. “We’ve got to shore up our defensive lapses. We have a practice [Monday] and we’ll make sure we’re on task defensively.”