At this rate, the best-of-seven Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League championship series will be played out over 10 games.
The first two battles have already drawn 38:50 of overtime play as the Victoria Cougars and Campbell River Storm are locked in a 1-1 series so far. Game 3 goes Thursday night at 7 at the Archie Browning Sports Centre, with Game 4 back at the Rod Brind鈥橝mour Arena in Campbell River on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Don鈥檛 be surprised to see more of the same.
鈥淎bsolutely,鈥� said Cougars team president and governor Gary Boyer.
鈥淵ou鈥檝e got two fast, disciplined and well-coached teams. Both recruit well and develop well, so it鈥檚 not a surprise at all. I think, dating back to last year鈥檚 final, that鈥檚 six one-goal聽games in a row and four of them in overtime.
鈥淲e were joking about if there was a record for how many one-goal games and how many overtime games there are in a series. Now we go into a crunch because of Thursday and Friday games followed by Sunday afternoon back at home.
鈥淭he boys will find out what kind of conditioning we have and, if they all go into overtime, we could be playing a whole lot in a short time.鈥�
So far, the series has been somewhat of a special-teams festival, in particular for the Cougars. They have scored five of their six goals on the power play, including all three in the opening 3-2, double-overtime victory on Sunday.
In Game 2 Tuesday night in Campbell River, the Storm prevailed 4-3 as Michal Holub notched the game-winner 4:12 into the extra session. Alex Brewer opened the scoring on a man-advantage situation for the Storm at 10:50 of the first period. Brett Lervold and John Kretzschmar replied with power-play goals 1:31 apart late in the opening frame.
Josh Coblenz tied it at 2-2 on another man-advantage goal for Campbell River midway through the second. Reece Costain gave the home team a 3-2 lead just 2:43 into the third before Kretzschmar collected his second at 11:36 of the third to force the extra session.
Riley Welyk faced 31 shots in the Storm net, while Anthony Ciurro saw 35 for Victoria, which finished 2-for-6 on the power play while Campbell River was 2-for-4.
In Sunday鈥檚 opener, the Cougars received a pair of goals from Nathan Looysen, including the game-winner at 14:38 of the second OT period.
Jordan Passmore had the other goal for Victoria, which finished 3-for-10 on the power play. Austin Steger and Gage Colpron had the Campbell River goals.
The Storm were 1-for-6 with the man-advantage in the series opener.
Welyk faced a staggering 55 shots in Game聽1 while Ciurro saw 36.
The Storm scored first in both games.
鈥淭hey got ahead of us both times,鈥� Boyer said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e shown character battling back and managing to keep pace and not letting them get away. You have to give them credit. They keep battling back, too. There鈥檚 not much give on either side, that鈥檚 for sure.
鈥淭he real winners are the fans. The entertainment value they鈥檙e getting 鈥� it鈥檚 fast, it鈥檚 quality. People who haven鈥檛 seen Junior B hockey for several years would be shocked to see the quality.鈥�
Twitter/tc_vicsports
