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It鈥檚 the championship series everyone expected.
A rematch of last year鈥檚 Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League finale begins tonight at 7 at the Archie Browning Sports Centre, with the Victoria Cougars attempting to wrestle back what the Campbell River Storm took from them in 2014-15.
Both clubs breezed through their divisional finals, the Storm sweeping the Nanaimo Buccaneers 4-0 and the Cougars winning four straight against the Peninsula Panthers.
The Storm is defending league, provincial and Western Canadian champs, but took just one point off the Cougars in four games this season, in a 4-4 tie in Victoria.
The Cougars pounced with 13-0, 7-1 and 5-4 wins in the other three matchups.
But those results all came before the Christmas break and prior to the Storm securing netminder Jake Mullen at the trade deadline.
In eight post-season games, Mullen has eight wins with a 1.30 goals-against average and .944 save percentage. Anthony Ciurro has six post-season wins for the Cougars, with a 1.50 GAA and .930 SP with two shutouts. His backup Gregory Maggio is 2-0 with a 2.00 GAA and .895 SP.
鈥淲e had a bit of a goaltending issue,鈥� Storm general manager and head coach Lee Stone said of the losses to the Cougars.
鈥淲e had committed to two young guys we were excited about and they both made the BCHL. It kind of put us behind the eight-ball in where we were at in net. In a couple of those games they were able to take advantage of that. Good teams do that.
鈥淚 thought that was a hole we had, but we鈥檝e fixed that. I can still tell you the nerves are a little higher than they would usually be, knowing how they handled us during the regular season, that鈥檚 for sure.鈥�
Stone takes comfort in the fact that Mullen hasn鈥檛 lost in a Storm jersey yet with 13 victories since coming over at the trade deadline from Summerland in the KIJHL.
Mullen will be busy as the Cougars have plenty of offensive depth. Cougars鈥� forwards Nathan Looysen and Cody Hodges lead the playoff scoring with 18 and 15 points, respectively. Looysen had nine goals in eight games and Hodges has seven, including a hat-trick in Game 1 vs. Peninsula. Campbell River鈥檚 Colin Blake is third with 14 points in 10 games as the Storm suffered two losses to the Saanich Braves in the post-season.
The Cougars 鈥� who were swept by the Storm in four tight games last year (two in double overtime and two one-goal games) 鈥� would like to earn the Brent Patterson Memorial Trophy back, after winning the three previous to 2014-15.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a different animal heading into the playoffs,鈥� said head coach Mark Van Helvoirt, knowing the domination over Campbell River in regular season will not extend into the playoffs. 鈥淭here were a couple of games in there that could have went either way.
鈥淚f you look up and down both rosters, they are very similar. They had a big gap in goal that was rectified. I think both teams have depth in all positions. They have a great offence and we have a good defence and we鈥檒l have to take care of details.鈥�
After Game 1, the scene switches to Rod Brind鈥橝mour Arena on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. for Game 2, back to Esquimalt on Thursday at 7 for Game 3 and returns up Island for Game 4 on Friday at 7:30 p.m. If required, Games 5, 6 and 7 are set for March 27, 29 and 31.
Both teams are already going to the Cyclone Taylor Cup provincial championship, which the Cougars host April 7-10, but both want the league title behind its team name.
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