The Westshore Wolves have home-ice advantage in the first round of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League playoffs over perennial powerhouse, the Victoria Cougars, and they needed to do a little extra work for it.
The Wolves got an overtime goal from Keegan Durrance in their final regular-season game last Saturday against the Kerry Park Islanders and the extra point allowed Westshore (25-21-1-1) to finish one point better than the Cougars (24-21-1-2), paving the way to tonight鈥檚 playoff opener at The Q Centre.
The South Division runner-up Wolves, with VIJHL leading scorer Cameron Coutre leading the way, will play a best-of-seven first-round series against the Cougars, who finished third in the division. Coutre finished with 31 goals and 66 points in 43 games. The Cougars are led by forward Darwin Lakoduc. The 18-year-old, who recently signed with the Victoria Grizzlies of the sa国际传媒 Hockey League for next season, scored 20 goals and 48 points in 48 games. Game 2 of the series goes Thursday night at Archie Browning Sports Centre.
The Saanich Braves, who won the South鈥檚 regular season crown with a 26-17-3-2 record, began their first-round series Tuesday night with 3-0 win over the Islanders at Pearkes Arena. They鈥檒l play Game 2 tonight at Kerry Park.
In the North, defending league champion Campbell River also began their march toward another Cyclone Taylor Cup appearance with a 4-0 victory over the visiting Peninsula Panthers in Game 1 of their first-round series. The Storm (36-6-2-4) won the North by two points over the Nanaimo Buccaneers (37-9-2-0) and now face a Panthers team that finished fifth in the South at 20-27-1-0 to grab the final playoff spot. The Buccaneers open against the Oceanside Generals.
The playoff champion will represent the VIJHL at the Cyclone Taylor Cup provincial championship tournament in early April in Richmond.
