Two games into the best-of-seven affair, the Victoria Cougars and Saanich Braves have each held serve on home ice. Game 3 goes tonight at 7 at Archie Browning Arena.
鈥淎t some point we鈥檒l have to, absolutely,鈥� Saanich head coach Brad Cook said of stealing a game from the Cougars. 鈥淚 think we all knew coming into this that if both teams brought the team that it鈥檚 capable of, it could be a long series.鈥�
The Braves are coming off a 6-4 win at home on Monday that followed Sunday鈥檚 5-1 Victoria triumph on Sunday.
鈥淭he tough part about sports is having the great, successful game and telling yourself you can do it again,鈥� offered Cook. 鈥淕ame 2 was a really good performance. We executed our game plan to a tee, except for one thing, staying out of the penalty box. That鈥檚 all they got, four power-play goals.鈥�
The Braves had a pair of man-advantage goals and a short-handed marker to even up the series. In Game 1, it was the Cougars with two power-play markers and a short-handed goal.
鈥淭wo very evenly balanced teams and similarities, too, in terms of scoring, deep rosters and good goalies. It makes for an interesting matchup on paper and so far the first couple of games has lived up to it,鈥� said Cougars head coach Mark Van Helvoirt.
鈥淚t鈥檚 funny how it works, some of our stronger games against Saanich have come in their rink. Unfortunately, we didn鈥檛 have a very good showing on Monday, but full credit to Saanich, they played well and deserved the victory.
鈥淭o be quite honest, I don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 a huge home-court advantage. It鈥檒l probably come down to who is going to have more conviction,鈥� added Van Helvoirt, who wants his team to remain patient, especially five-on-five.
鈥淎s the series goes on, I think you鈥檒l see the penalties decrease,鈥� he said. 鈥淏oth teams have good special teams, both can put out strong five-man units.鈥�
And it鈥檚 really no surprise that Saanich is giving Victoria a series as the two have battled all regular season.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e a bigger, more experienced team,鈥� said Van Helvoirt. 鈥淎n older team with guys who have been in this league for a number of years. They鈥檙e well coached and we鈥檝e had great games with them all year long. We knew this would be an excellent series and I鈥檓 glad we鈥檙e seeing this series played out. It鈥檚 great for the league.鈥�
And now Cook would love nothing more than to make that steal on Cougars鈥� ice and return to Pearkes Arena on Friday for Game 4.
鈥淚 loved the response from our guys,鈥� he said. 鈥淓very time Victoria scored or had us pinned in our end, we regrouped and pushed right back.
鈥淏ut you have to be able to repeat that and I challenged our guys with that.鈥�
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