Riley Welyk posted his first postseason shutout and Dane Feeney scored a hat trick Tuesday as the Campbell River Storm completed a first-round sweep with an 8-0 romp over Oceanside in Parksville.
The Storm will next face the Comox Valley Glacier Kings, who closed out a five-game series win over Nanaimo with a 5-3 home win Tuesday. The opening game of the semifinal series will be played in Campbell River; the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League has not yet announced the date.
Feeney had goals in the first, second and third periods as the Storm outshot the host Generals 45-15 Tuesday. Gage Colpron added two more scores, giving him six in the final three games of the series.
Nathan Browne, Josiah Friesen and Brendan Enns also notched goals against the penalty-plagued Generals, who served up 14 power-play chances to the visitors.
Colin Blake contributed three assists, Andy Stevens and Connor Logan had two apiece, and Feeney, Friesen, Colpron, Michael Olson, Trent Johnson and Trevor Bottomley all added helpers.
Storm 10, Oceanside 2
Josiah Friesen helped spark the Campbell River Storm to the lopsided win over the Oceanside Generals in Game 2 of their best-of-7 Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League playoff series Friday in Campbell River.
In Friday’s matchup, the Storm were clinging to a 2-1 lead with less than five minutes to play in the second period when Friesen took over. Gathering a pass from Colin Blake near the Oceanside blue line, he fought around one defender in the right circle and lifted a power-play shot from the low slot over Generals goalie D
avid Anderson to make it 3-1 at 16:06.
Barely a minute later, the tables were turned and Oceanside was skating with the man advantage when Friesen collected a loose puck in the neutral zone and again barged through the circle to ram home a low, shorthanded shot past Anderson before tumbling over the goalie.
“Josiah Friesen was incredible tonight,” Storm coach Lee Stone said after the game. “He was great on the penalty kill, great on the forecheck.
“It’s his age 20 year, and he’s going hard. He wants it in his last year.”
The Generals got one goal back when Cameron Nickerson slipped behind the defence to beat Storm netminder Riley Welyk at the post in the closing seconds of the period. But that was nothing more than a pause for the Storm, who ran away with six unanswered goals in the third to turn the tight game into a laugher.
“Every team comes out and brings it up a level in the playoffs,” Friesen said of Oceanside’s strong start. “We came slow out of the gate, maybe didn’t take them seriously, but we’ve got some good leadership in the room and the guys did a good job of keeping their heads up.”
Gage Colpron and Dane Feeney also had two goals each in the win, with Connor Logan, Colin Blake, 15-year-old Dawson Frank and Nathan Browne adding scores.
Storm 5, Oceanide 1
Riding the momentum from that Friday’s blowout, the Storm topped the Generals 5-1 in Parksville the following night to build a 3-0 series lead.
Friesen and Colpron added two more goals each in Saturday’s rematch in Parksville — including another shorthanded counter by Friesen — and Will McNamara also found the net.
Welyk continued his solid play in net since coming over in a deadline-day trade in January, allowing just a single, power-play goal to the host Generals.
