A 5-3 win in front of a joyous home crowd on Tuesday night propelled the Kerry Park Islanders into the second round of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League playoffs.
The Isles went into the postseason as the fourth seed in the South Division, but they defied expectations by winning four straight to sweep the best-of-seven first-round series against the top-seeded Cougars.
“The boys are definitely excited,” Kerry Park head coach Brandon Cox said. “But they know that’s not our goal. This is just the beginning; going to the Cyclone Taylor Cup [B.C. junior B championship] is our goal.”
Five different players scored on Tuesday, including captain Matt Baird, who delivered the eventual game-winner with 2:12 left in the third period, and Dryden DeMelo made 23 saves in the thrilling victory.
“It was kind of a seesaw battle,” Cox said. “We knew they weren’t going down easy. The fourth win is always the hardest.”
Mateo Sjoberg and Marko Tokic each had a goal and an assist on Tuesday, Baird, Ben Northcott and John Ross also scored, Logan Walker had three assists and Jackson Egan had two helpers.
The Isles won 5-1 in Victoria last Thursday, 4-3 in Mill Bay on Saturday, and 5-4 in overtime in Victoria on Sunday to set up Tuesday’s series final.
Cox said he knew his team would give the Cougars a good series, but he wouldn’t have expected to win the first three games. A lot of elements have come together to propel the Isles to their early success.
“We’ve been physical,” the coach commented after the third game. “We’ve gotten a lot of jump from our younger guys. And getting Dylan Parsons back on D was key.”
Parsons, who returned to the lineup for the regular-season finale after suffering an injury in November, leads all Kerry Park defencemen with five points in four games and has allowed the team to move Baird from the blueline to the forward ranks, giving them four balanced lines up front.
Offensively, young linemates Walker and Sjoberg have 10 and eight points respectively, and veteran Egan has stepped up with three goals and five assists, and was named Kerry Park’s Player of the Game in back-to-back games.
“He has motivation, being an ex-Cougar and somebody they shopped around a couple of years ago,” Cox said of Egan. “He has extra incentive. He played his heart out for them, and they didn’t have room for him the next year.”
The 17-year-old DeMelo has held the fort in goal with a 2.64 goals-against average and .919 save percentage.
“I think Dylan wants to show that he can play at the next level,” Cox said. “Which I believe he can.”
The Isles will now have to wait to see who wins the other South Division semifinal, which the Peninsula Panthers led 3-2 going into Wednesday night. The next series could begin as soon as this Friday or Saturday.
“We don’t have much time to celebrate,” Cox said.