Two out of three ain’t bad, but it won’t be good enough for the Oceanside Generals. They have the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League regular season and playoff titles, and now go for the trophy hat-trick in the 2023 Fred Cyclone Taylor Cup sa国际传媒 Junior B championship tournament beginning Thursday in Revelstoke.
The Generals were the winningest team in Junior B in the province at a franchise record 41-3-4 and the runaway winners of the VIJHL regular-season Andy Hebenton Trophy, named after the former NHL Ironman record holder with the New York Rangers and Victoria pro-hockey great.
Oceanside added the Brent Patterson Trophy on Friday night as VIJHL playoff champions with a 5-4 double-overtime victory against the Saanich Predators at a packed Pearkes Arena to win the best-of-seven league final 4-2. That avenged Oceanside’s six-game loss in the final last year to the Peninsula Panthers, and gave the Generals their fourth league championship and their first since 2009.
The winning goal in the second overtime period was scored by Carter Johnson, this year’s winner of the VIJHL Jamie Benn MVP Award, named after the Dallas Stars captain, Olympic gold medallist and VIJHL alumnus.
The Generals also boast Brendan Carlson, winner of the Clayton Stoner Award, named after the former NHL blueliner from Port McNeill, and awarded to the top defenceman in the VIJHL. Carlson’s deciding goal allowed the Generals to lift the Brent Patterson Trophy, named in honour of the former VIJHL-champion Saanich Braves player and league MVP, who died after suffering chest pains during a game in the 1977 Fred Cyclone Taylor Cup sa国际传媒 Junior B championship tournament in Quesnel.
Johnson, Carlson and their Oceanside mates will represent the VIJHL in the 2023 tournament for the Cyclone Taylor Cup, named after the sa国际传媒 hockey legend. The teams involved will be the Generals, the Pacific Junior Hockey League champion Delta Ice Hawks, the host Revelstoke Grizzlies and the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League champions, either the Kimberley Dynamiters or Princeton Posse.
Oceanside is looking to become the seventh Island team to hoist the Cyclone Taylor Cup, following the Comox Totems in 1967, Victoria Cubs in 1971, Saanich Braves in 1976, Victoria Cougars in 2007, Peninsula Panthers in 2011 and Campbell River Storm in 2015.
