It wasn’t easy but the Oceanside Generals got the job done.
They clinched the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League’s North Division title again for the second year in a row after eliminating the Campbell River Storm 5-4 in double overtime in front of over 1,200 fans at the Howie Meeker Arena at Oceanside Place on Thursday night (March 23).
The Generals appeared to be heading to an easy win after building a 4-0 lead, but the Storm refused to wither and fought back gallantly, reeling in four unanswered goals to force overtime. The Generals despite squandering a huge lead kept their composure and went on to shatter the hopes of the Storm when they scored in the second overtime to win their series 4-1.
Forward Jacob Thomas, who had missed a couple of games due to an injury in Game 1, netted the winning goal with Brendan Carlson and Tyler Gyori assisting in the play.
“It’s nice to comeback and contribute and finish the job that the boys started here,” said Thomas. “It was really cool turning around seeing 1,200 people jump up at the same time. It’s nice to be champions of the north again.”
Assistant coaches Max Creighton and Reid Coleman handled the huge task of leading the Generals behind the bench as head coach Dan Lemmon had to miss the game due to a flu.
Creighton praised the Generals for the way they fought back after losing 2-0 in Game 1 and then managing to prevail in three tough overtime games to eventually land the North Island title and advance to the VIJHL playoff final.
“Three overtime wins is not for the faint of heart, especially for the coaching staff. It was pretty stressful,” said Creighton. “I am super proud of our guys for the way they battled through tonight. They found a way to win it.”
Braedan Leary, Nolan Kehoe, Carter Johnson and Parker Klippenstein each scored a goal to spark the Generals offense. Unfortunately the Generals defence eased up a bit and gave up four goals to the Storm that included the tying marker with less than a minute-and-a-half to play in the final frame. The Storm pulled their goalie Nick Peters for the extra attacker and it worked when Carter De Boer tied it up 4-4 to forced extra time play.
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“We obviously got a little nervous because that’s not how you want to close out the game,” said Thomas. “We’ve been doing it all season and we found a way to win and that’s all that matters at the end of the day.”
Creighton said they will need to stress to the players the importance of not being complacent even when they have a comfortable lead.
“I think we kind of took off our foot on the gas a little bit and we thought it was going to be easy, and they were going to roll over,” said Creighton. “Obviously, the Storm is good team and is well coached and he found a way to get them pumped up in the second and third period. They just kept chipping away and chipping away and we were on our heels in the second and third. Luckily it didn’t cost us but I think going forward, we need to find a way to play 60 minutes of full pedal to the metal and not take any time off.”
Scorers for the Storm were De Boer, who led with two goals, with one each from Davis Frank and Mitchell Finner. Storm goalie was the top star of the game, turning away 50 shots.
The Generals will face the winner of the South Division final between the Saanich Predators and Victoria Cougars.
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