A parade to the penalty box and some unlucky bounces prevented the Kerry Park Islanders from getting a victory in either of the first two games in their first-round playoff series against the Oceanside Generals.
The Isles are playing some of their best hockey of the year, but the Generals are up 2-0 after a 4-1 win in Parksville on Tuesday and a 7-1 victory in Mill Bay on Wednesday night.
The Generals went 3-for-8 with the man advantage on Tuesday, and 4-for-10 on Wednesday, while the Isles went a combined 0-for-11. Even when they managed to stay out of the penalty box, things just weren’t going right for Kerry Park.
“We had some unlucky bounces in the first couple of games,” Islanders owner Carl Ollech said. “If we put the pucks in when we hit posts, we would have won.”
The Isles got on the scoreboard first both nights, with Parker Bergstrom scoring six minutes into the game on Tuesday, and captain Logan Furkalo scoring just two and a half minutes after the opening faceoff on Wednesday, but it was all Oceanside after that.
On Tuesday, the Generals tied things up with a powerplay goal before the first period was over, scored two more with the man advantage in the second, and capped it off with one at even strength in the third. On Wednesday, the Generals were up 2-1 after one and 3-1 after two, then scored four times in the third.
“The wheels kind of fell off,” Ollech admitted.
Spencer Deakin was heroic for Kerry Park, making 55 saves on Tuesday as the Isles were outshot 59-17, and 46 saves on Wednesday as the Generals had the upper hand 53-27.
The teams will meet again in Parksville on Friday and in Mill Bay on Sunday at 3 p.m. If necessary, they will play in Parksville on Tuesday, Mill Bay next Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., and Parksville again on March 7 at 7 p.m.