Victoria 3 Peninsula 2
First star Kelton Shinde scored the winning goal at 6:45 of the third period to give the Victoria Cougars a 3-2 victory over the defending champion Peninsula Panthers to take their best of seven VIJHL South Division playoff final 4-3 in front of an overflow crowd of 630 at the Panorama Recreation Centre.
The game seven win was Victoria’s third straight after Peninsula, the league’s top team in the regular season, opened up a 3-1 series lead, and the Cougars now advance to the VIJHL final against the North Division champion Nanaimo Buccaneers later this week. Nanaimo won the North title, but because Victoria had more points while finishing two points behind pennant winning Peninsula in the South, they will hold home ice advantage for the best of seven series.
Victoria led 1-0 and 2-1 by periods, and their other goals came from third star Grady Sluggett and Ben Wetterberg, and Finn Wilson put in another stellar effort between the Cougars pipes with 40 saves.
Second star Oskar Aitken-Salmons and Carson Harris were the Peninsula marksmen, and Caden Lentz finished with 31 stops between the Panthers pegs.
The first two games will be played at Archie Browning Arena in Esquimalt, with games three and four being held at Frank Crane Arena in Nanaimo, as their usual home, Nanaimo Ice Centre, is unavailable.
