The Aldergrove Kodiaks rolled to a convincing 4-1 victory over the Abbotsford Pilots, Wednesday, Feb. 4, and confirmed their status as the Harold Brittain conference champions for the regular season.
With only three regular season games left for each of the conference’s five teams it is mathematically impossible for the Kodiaks to lose the top spot in the conference. With 51 points after 41 games (22-12-2-5) the Kodiaks are ahead of the Langley Knights by seven points, the Pilots by nine points and Mission Outlaws by 10 points. The only open question is which teams will be in second, third and fourth place going into the playoffs.
The Kodiaks outplayed the Pilots for the second time in as many games, and also outshot the Pilots every period for a total of 32 shots on goal to the Pilots’ 21.
The Kodiaks also put the puck into the Pilots’ net, including a pair of beauties from forward Brandon Dolby.
The Kodiaks were up 2-1 in the first period, with scores by affiliate Noah Wiebe (from Aaron Markin and Nolan Wallinger) and Dolby on a power play (from Quinncy Leroux and Markin). Lucien Serban of the Pilots scored their only goal in the first period.
Dolby put in his second goal midway through the second period, assisted by Markin and Joshua Poitras closed the night’s scoring with a snapshot, assisted by Wyatt Versluis and Cameron Davitt.
Third period was scoreless despite some intense pressure from both teams. It got a bit rough in the final frame but the referees were on top of it and kept it from getting out of hand by filing up the penalty boxes — for a time it looked like there would have to be a “no vacancy” sign posted at the “sin bins.”
Even at that, the Pilots had to spend time killing seven of their eight penalties at their end of the rink, while the Kodiaks only had to kill three.
Game stars were Kodiaks Markin, Dolby and Poitras.
The Kodiaks finish their regular season this coming week, with an away game at Langley Knights Feb. 5, home game versus Delta Ice Hawks Feb. 11 and away at Mission Outlaws Feb. 14.
Kodiaks GM Rick Harkins says he’s confirmed the following Tuesday and Wednesday for the first two playoff games to be hosted by the Kodiaks at Aldergrove Arena. The Kodiaks will play the fourth place team in the first round of playoffs, however, it remains to be seen which team that will be.
