Victoria 6 Saanich 5 (OT)
Second star Dalton Toma’s second goal and third point of the night at 5:34 of overtime gave defending VIJHL champion Victoria Cougars a 6-5 decision over the host Saanich Predators in front of 176 fans at George Pearkes Arena in the opening game of the 2026-2027 season.
First star Avery Lowe paced the Cougars with a hat trick, while captain Grady Sluggett had the other marker for Victoria, which led 2-1 after the first period while the second frame ended in a 4-4 tie. Noah Barnes picked up the win in goal with 29 stops.
Third star Travis Swanson, Teegan Gardner, Maxime Simard, Declan McNaul and Bruce Kohler had singles for the Predators, who received 48 saves from netminder James Hall.
Nanaimo 3 Lake Cowichan 2
A pair of tallies by Jack Barrett, including an empty netter, pushed the defending North Division winning Nanaimo Buccaneers to a 3-2 victory over the Lake Cowichan Kraken in a contest taken in by a crowd of 460 at the Nanaimo Ice Centre.
Carter Puska earned first star honours with a 22 save effort, and second star Drew Stinka had the other goal for the Bucs. The contest was scoreless after the first period and 1-1 heading into the third.
Oliver Lynch and Kohen Hartmann dented the twine for Lake Cowichan, with third star goalie Caleb Boileau stopping 26 shots in the Kraken cage.
Westshore 4 Peninsula 1
Second star Jasper Fellbaum’s two goals led the Westshore Wolves to a 4-1 triumph over the Peninsula Panthers as 353 took in the tilt at the Panorama Recreation Centre.
Oskar Ponomaryov’s 36 saves made him first star of the night and the other Wolves goals came from Nick Scott and Jaxson Prette. Westshore led 3-1 after the first and second periods, and Kyle Rihela was the game’s third star.
Markus Nichols scored for Peninsula, which received 31 stops from goalie Nicholas Smelser.
