DELTA 7 VICTORIA 2
The Victoria Cougars were finally tamed at the Cyclone Taylor Cup in Abbotsford on Saturday.
A three-goal second period, followed by four more in the third gave the Delta Ice Hawks an easy 7-2 win over the Cougars in the final round-robin game for both clubs at the provincial Junior B hockey championship at MSA Arena.
The result meant little to the Cougars, who had already qualified for today's championship final at 3 p.m., thanks to two wins heading into Saturday play.
Delta kept its hopes alive with the victory, improving its record to 1-1-1.
"It was a tough game, not the stage that we wanted to have a game like this on, but we live to see another day," Cougars head coach Mark Van Helvoirt said of the loss. "We're still playing in the gold [medal game], and that's the only positive we'll take out of today."
Van Helvoirt made a few changes to his lineup for the team's third game in three days, starting Bryce Halverson in net instead of Evan Roch, who was coming off a shutout. Ben Kinshella and Ryan Parmar also sat out.
The changes, combined with already having secured a spot in the championship final, might have had something to do with the result.
"I'll be honest with you. It's obviously disappointing, what happened on the ice today. It wasn't our approach," said Van Helvoirt. "We didn't want to come here and have a game like this, which has an impact on what happens in the tournament with goals for and against. We didn't want that to be the case, by any means.
"We put this behind us. You have to have a short memory in a tournament like this, and we look forward to [today]," said Van Helvoirt. "[Saturday] we sat on our heels, and we'll be a different team [today]."
The Cyclone Taylor Cup features the three Junior B leagues in the province - the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League, the Pacific International Junior Hockey League and the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League. The winner of this tournament advances to the Keystone Cup, the Western Canadian championship, slated for April 1922 in Saskatoon.
GAME NOTES: Chris Bannister, with his fifth goal of the tournament, and Colin Minardi scored for Victoria on Saturday. . . . An Abbotsford tie or win over Beaver Valley in the late game (7: 30 p.m. start) means the host Pilots would advance to the final. Beaver Valley had to win by seven goals or more for the Nitehawks to qualify. A Beaver Valley win by less than seven would give Delta the nod. . . . The bronze game goes at 11 a.m. at MSA Arena.
mannicchiarico@timescolonist.com
