VIAHA Tier 1 Division Playoffs – Best of Three Series

With a trip to the U18 Tier 1 BC Hockey Provincial Championships on the line, the VMHA Admirals faced off against the Comox Strathcona Bears in a three-game set to determine who would represent Vancouver Island in Nanaimo March 17-23, 2024.

Game 1, Feb. 24, 2024 (Home):
The top teams faced off at Pearkes Green in a well-attended afternoon battle royale. The first 20 minutes were tight as both teams tested each other’s netminders with a flurry of shots – it wasn’t until Admirals’ #7 Rowan Brodie-Rafuse ripped a shot past the Comox netminder low glove-side on a well-deserved penalty shot that got the VMHA team up on the board. The Admirals and Bears traded goals back and forth over the second period with tallies at 17:03 from #5 Jackson Buie (assisted by Alejandro Snead and Brodie-Rafuse) and Quinn Cramb at 11:35 (assists from #16 Jack Hall and #15 Ollie Pemberton) to close out the period at 3-2 for the home team. VMHA goaltender James Hall was masterful in and around his net – with astonishing save after astonishing save. Hall showed his hockey prowess along with a fearless down-low game, combined when needed with acrobatic saves and batting pucks out of harm’s way as well as any MLB batter would have fared staring down pitches at home plate.

The third period saw #9 (Cramb) score goal number four (with 7:09 to go) for the VHHA squad – assisted by linemates Hall and Pemberton. Not long after Cramb, skating at full speed, was hauled down by two Bears’ players mere feet from the Bears’ now empty net – resulting in a penalty shot – despite the puck ending up deep in the empty Comox net. Cramb missed the ensuing penalty shot but at 2:37 Ollie Pemberton bulled his way over the Admiral’s blue line and shoveled the puck ahead to Cramb – a determined Cramb set off at full tilt towards the empty Comox net fighting off the Bears’ players through the neutral zone and across their blueline – where he sniped the puck between the pipes to record another hat-trick in this amazing season. Final: Admirals 5-Bears 2.

Game 2, Feb. 25, 2024 (Away):
A travel weary Admirals player and parent group made their way up to Comox in the pre-dawn hours on February 25 for a “winner take all or force game three” scenario. Seven seconds in, the better-rested Strathcona Bears sent in a blistering rising shot that beat Admirals goalie Everett Wilke up high sending the Bears’ bench and home team crowd into a frenzy. Wilke calmly settled back in, stood his ground and the VMHA team fought back hard shift after shift until at 15:05 alternate captain Ollie Pemberton took D-man Harrison Hurst’s outlet pass deep and roofed the puck over the Comox goaltender to make for a 1-1 tie. The tie didn’t last long as the Bears continued to press the Admirals defensive core and test Wilke – resulting in a 3-1 Comox lead to close out the first period.

Following an Admirals goalie change – the Bear’s managed to get a quick shot past netminder James Hall to increase their lead early in the second period to a seemingly insurmountable 4-1. The Admirals never lost focus and through grit and sheer skill on the part of linemates Quinn Cramb, Ollie Pemberton and Jordan Hansoski – Cramb managed to pot the Admirals second goal to bring them within 2. Less than two-minutes later hard-hitting #8 Brady Hewitt-Wilcox took an outlet pass from Admirals team Captain Eric Murphy and slipped it over to Pemberton who with 1:02 left in the period brought the Victoria team to within 1 of the Bears.

Fifteen determined VMHA players hit the ice for the start of the third period and simply took it offensively and defensively to the Comox squad – Hewitt-Wilcox blasted a low shot at the Bears' netminder, who kicked out a rebound that Jordan Hanoski was able to pounce on and the VMHA forward lifted the puck at a near impossible angle up and into the top-left corner of the Bears’ net to tie the game – resulting in  pandemonium on the visitor’s side of the Comox Valley Ice Centre. Regulation time came to an end with the Admirals and Bears locked in a 4-4 tie – to be settled by sudden death overtime.

Both teams played things tightly during the opening minutes of the 10-minute OT period – but the Admirals’ defensive forces, combined with the speed and relentless forecheck of their forward lines shifted game play largely in Victoria’s favour. In an unbelievable feat of athleticism and sheer doggedness, forward Ollie Pemberton forced the puck-carrying Comox player to turn the puck over inside the defensive blueline – and with the other Bears’ players scrambling – slid the puck to #9 Cramb darting in towards the net – the Admirals’ forward cut across the top of the blue paint and snuck the puck 5-hole through the Comox goaltender’s pads to cap of a four unanswered goal run and leading the Admirals to a 5-4 OT win!

Watch the post-game celebration: IMG_6773

Next up: March 17-23, 2024, BC Hockey U18 Tier 1 Provincials in Nanaimo.