With four games left in the regular season, the Cowichan Valley Capitals are still in the BCHL playoff picture. The Capitals played two games in Powell River against the Kings this past weekend, earning a much-needed split against the team they’re battling for the final playoff spot.
“We’ve had a pretty tough schedule, and we’ve still been able to play pretty well,” said head coach Mike Vandekamp. “We played good on the weekend in Powell River. Gave ourselves a really good chance to win the first one, but just came up short and then played really well in the second one and got a big win.”
On Friday, March 15 Cowichan ended up on the short end of a tightly contested 3-2 game. Dryden Kuramoto opened the scoring, potting the game’s only first-period goal but it was matched by the Kings just 27 seconds into the second frame to tie it at one.
Luke Lavery fired his 19th of the season before the four-minute mark of the second but two more Powell River goals in the middle stanza put the Kings ahead for good as no goals were scored in the third period.
Cowichan out-shot Powell River in each period but were unable to convert in the end. The same was not true the following night when the Caps continued to out-shoot the Kings, but in that game, were able to out-score them as well.
With two goals in the first period, and one in each of the next two, the Capitals beat the Kings to earn a 4-1 victory and the all-important road split.
Darius Bachler and Myles Gauld had Cowichan’s first-period markers while Lavery had the game’s only second-period goal and Matthew Swanson added an empty-netter in the third.
Cody Butikis tended goal in both games, stopping 56 of 60 total shots.
The Capitals have just four regular-season games remaining and all are at the Cowichan Arena beginning this coming weekend with a huge matchup against the Kings at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 22, followed by a game against the Coquitlam Express the following evening at 6 p.m.
“Big weekend ahead, we just have to keep building on our momentum and hopefully play well in our own building,” Vandekamp said. “We’re only a few points away from clinching a playoff spot so hopefully we can get that done.”
Cowichan then wraps up their regular season with home games against the Chilliwack Chiefs and Surrey Eagles at 7 p.m. on March 29 and 6 p.m. on March 30 respectively.