VIJHL Game Summary 13.2.25
Peninsula 2 Victoria 4
Victoria Cougars scored twice in the third period, including an empty netter with 23 seconds left, to ice the Peninsula Panthers 4-2 in Thursday night VIJHL action at Archie Browning Arena.
After a scoreless first period, Victoria led 2-1 heading into the third frame, and had their goals from first star Mathieu Ouellette, second star Cole Patterson, Griffin Webb and Carter Zeeben. Jesse Pye stopped 32 shots for the win for Victoria, now 23-15-16 for 52 points.
Peninsula, now at 31-11-2-1 for 65 points, had 33 saves from third star, netminder Merik Grinaker, and tallies from Oskar Aitken Salmons and Jacob Caron.
Kerry Park 3 Nanaimo 2
Kerry Park Islanders clinched the top overall record in the VIJHL regular season and the South Division by edging the Nanaimo Buccaneers 3-2 in front of 245 fans at Nanaimo Ice Centre.
Kerry Park (34-6-3-1) for 72 points, can’t be caught by second place Peninsula, which has three games remaining.
Kyler Smith, Matson Waring and Eric Stinson scored for Kerry Park, which led 2-0 and 3-0 by periods and received 24 saves from third star, goalie Noah Stenvig.
Second star Quintus Mah and Jaxin Karst had the markers for Nanaimo, which had a first star performance from goalie Darian Feser with 31 stops.
Fifth place Nanaimo (16-24-2) can now only catch Comox Valley mathematically, which is five points ahead with 41 points. Nanaimo can nab a possible six points if they win all three of their remaining games, while the Glacier Kings would have to lose all four of their remaining contests to drop out of fourth place.