Forget the clich茅 about the big dawg needing to eat. This one is all about which cat will be the coolest.
The Victoria Cougars entertain the Peninsula Panthers in Game 1 of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League South Division best-of-seven final tonight at 7 at Archie Browning Sports Centre.
The Cougars, at a league best 41-5-1-1 during the regular-season, are the favourites, but the Panthers (22-21-1-4) are not to be overlooked.
Coach Mark Van Helvoirt鈥檚 Cougars have sat for eight days after sweeping Kerry Park in the opening round, outscoring the Islanders 21-4. Peninsula, with Rob Mortin behind the bench, required six tougher games to get through the Westshore Wolves and have not played in seven days.
During the regular season, the Cougars won six of eight head-to-head clashes, including one in overtime. But this is a new season.
鈥淎n interesting sideline to this series is just how the two organizations are run,鈥� said Panthers governor and owner Pete Zubersky. 鈥淲e鈥檙e totally different and I don鈥檛 mean that in a good or bad way, it鈥檚 just different and interesting.鈥�
The Panthers feature 23 of 24 players who are local, while the heavily-recruited Cougars have 16 players from out of town.
鈥淟ots of people in our league get upset about it. I don鈥檛. Their philosophy is just different. I think we like to get people to the next level and they want to win and there鈥檚 nothing wrong with either,鈥� said Zubersky.
Don鈥檛 be fooled, though, the Cougars have done more than their share in progressing players to junior A and southward to lower divisions of U.S. college hockey.
This year the Cougars were four points better than the defending league, provincial and Western Canadian-champion Campbell River Storm during the regular season and Victoria is already the Cyclone Taylor Cup host. But championships are always the goal and they鈥檇 like to avenge last year鈥檚 league result.
Former WHLer Nathan Looysen led the Cougars and the VIJHL in scoring with 101 points, followed by linemates Cody Hodges (97) and Dom Kolbeins (83). In comparison, Peninsula鈥檚 top point-getter was rookie 17-year-old Cam Thompson with 44.
On the back end, the Panthers are led by 20-year-old Spencer Loverock.
鈥淚 think Looysen is the best player in the league,鈥� said Zubersky. 鈥淏ut they鈥檙e four lines deep. They can roll line after line.
鈥淚 call this the David and Goliath of hockey and we鈥檙e looking for the slingshot,鈥� said Zubersky. 鈥淭he keys for us are we need to get great goaltending; we have to outwork them; we have to stay out of the [penalty] box; and the final thing is, we need some puck luck.鈥�
In net, the Panthers start Alex Olson, the only roster player from out of the area, in Langley. The Cougars feature the No. 1 and 2 top netminders in the regular season in Anthony Ciurro of Peoria, Arizona, who was 27-3-1 with eight shutouts, and Gregory Maggio of New Westminster, who finished 13-1 with two blankings.
Game 2 is set for Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Panorama Recreation Centre with Game 3 returning to the Arch at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday. Game 4 starts at Panorama at 7:30 p.m. on Monday.
Campbell River defeated the Buccaneers 6-1 in Game 1 of the North series on Wednesday and plays Game 2 tonight in Nanaimo.
