Despite being down two games to none in their best-of-seven playoff series, the Abbotsford Pilots were able to bounce back and eliminate the Aldergrove Kodiaks in Game 6 Monday night to advance to the Pacific International Junior Hockey League final.
There the Pilots will meet the Delta Ice Hawks, who eliminated the Richmond Sockeyes, four games to two, last weekend.
The Sockeyes were the team to beat heading into the PIJHL playoffs, with a regular season record of 37-7 to lead the league and take the top seed in the Tom Shaw Conference.
With Aldergrove’s loss to Abbotsford on Monday, both conference leaders have now been knocked out of the PIJHL playoffs.
The Ridge Meadows Flames were eliminated by the Kodiaks in the in Harold Brittain Conference semifinals, losing fours games to two.
Delta holds the advantage over Abbotsford in their regular season meetings. In the four games the two teams have played this season, Delta had points in every game, with three regulation wins and an overtime loss.
Making matters worse for the Pilots is that the Ice Hawks hold home ice advantage for the series. Abbotsford has only one win at the Ladner Lesiure Centre in the past four seasons.
The series was to have got under way Thursday night in Delta.
