The Sunshine Coast Hitmen hook up with the Powell River Regals tonight (Friday) in Sechelt with the winner getting home ice advantage in the best-of-three playoff to see which area team will head to the Coy Cup.
The Regals knocked off the Mid Island Blazers last weekend, and with that win, eliminated the Blazers from the playoff picture, meaning their scheduled game Saturday night in Sechelt is now not required.
Game time tonight is 8:45 p.m. at the Sunshine Coast Arena.
Basketball
The Elphi juvenile (Grade 9) finished the season with a 7-1 league record (9-1 overall) following a 62-32 win over Argyle Jan. 26 and their first regular season loss on Monday, Jan. 31, 52-48 against St. Thomas Aquinas.
The Cougars open up the playoffs against Argyle on Monday, Feb. 7.
Also last weekend, the Cougars won the Sutherland jamboree tournament with a perfect 3-0 record.
The juvenile girls lost a pair of tough games last week, losing 46-37 to Seycove on Jan. 26 and 43-40 to Rockridge on Jan. 27.
The Grade 8/9 girls team from Pender travelled to Squamish on Jan. 26, dropping a close 37-35 decision to Don Ross Secondary. Top scorer was Solveig van Wersch with 17 points. Next up for the Grade 9 girls is a game against Chatelech this week.
In bantam boys action, Elphi lost 43-33 to Windsor on Jan. 24, while the junior boys from Chat dropped a 57-7 decision to Collingwood on Jan. 18.
The Elphi senior boys lost 79-42 to Windsor on Jan. 27 and have two games remaining against Chat and STA next week.
A small correction to the basketball report in the Jan. 28 edition - the Elphi senior boys finished second at the Sentinel tournament, losing to West Vancouver, not the juvenile (Grade 9) boys from Elphi as reported.
We apologize to both teams for the error.
Hockey
Halfmoon Bay's David Arduin is currently tied for third in team scoring as the Geneseo Knights are off to a solid start.
Arduin, playing for the Knights at Geneseo College in upstate New York, has nine goals and 10 assists in 20 games. The Knights have an overall record of 13-5-2 and a conference record of 7-3-1. They are also ranked seventh in the nation after not being ranked last year.
Arduin was also named as a conference player of the week last week for his two goals in the Knights 4-1 win over Morrisville last Saturday.
Closer to home, Brady Bjornson leads the Squamish Wolf Pack in scoring with eight goals and 16 assists in 27 games while fellow Coaster Connor Cross has four goals and five points in 26 games.
The Wolf Pack are struggling this year with a record of 6-28 in the Tom Shaw Conference of the Pacific International Junior Hockey League.
In Major Midget action last weekend, Sechelt goalie Scott Legault picked up the win for the Vancouver North West Giants as they edged the Greater Vancouver Canadians 4-3.
