Comox Valley 4 Nanaimo 2
An outstanding 34 save performance by goaltender Ander Reyes backstopped the Comox Valley Glacier Kings to a 4-2 VIJHL North Division final series opening victory over the Nanaimo Buccaneers in front of 410 fans at the Nanaimo Ice Centre.
Regular season North champion Nanaimo led 1-0 after the first period and 2-0 early in the second on goals by second star Curtis Freeman, but the second place Glacier Kings knotted the count at 2-2 before scoring twice in the third period to pull out the win.
First star Sheldon Alexander had a goal and two assists, third star Quinten Harvie a goal and an assist, and Rolan Amin and Gavin Munro also scored on Buccaneers’ netminder Aaron Pichette, who finished with 21 saves.
Game two goes Saturday night in Courtenay.
Victoria 2 Peninsula 5
A pair of goals by first star Koehn Obuck helped the Peninsula Panthers claw past the Victoria Cougars in the first game of the South Division final as 257 spectators took in the contest at the Panorama Recreation Centre.
Peninsula, which had the best overall record in the league, led 2-1 and 3-1 by periods and had their other goals from Ethan Lingard, Oskar Aitken-Salmons and Alex Sajan into an empty net, with Liam Byrne taking second star honours with two assists, and Luke Christensen third star. Caden Lentz recorded the win between the Panthers pipes with 24 saves.
Ethan Davey and Aiden Beavan were the Victoria marksmen, and Finn Wilson kicked out 38 drives in the Cougars net.
The second game of the series is Saturday night in Sidney.
