Saints capture second straight BCIHL Championship with sweep of TWU
By The Nelson Daily Sports
There were no extra-time heroics needed this season for the Selkirk Saints in the 2014 B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League Finals.
For the second straight game the Saints scored early and often en route to a 5-1 victory over Trinity Western Spartans to sweep the best-of-three series 2-0 Saturday night at the Castlegar Rec Complex and repeat as BCIHL Champs.
Selkirk won the opener 6-1 Friday.
“We were lucky to have the core of last year’s team back who had gone through the experience of winning a championship,” a tired Saints head coach Jeff Dubois said this morning from his home in Castlegar.
“So we had a lot of leaders and experienced guys who had seen the ups and downs of a season and those guys did the job for us for sure.”
After opening the series with win Friday, Dubois said the coaching staff put the game in the hands of the players, explaining the consequences of letting a team like TWU back into the series.
The Saints responded, scoring three times in the first period to take the early control of the contest.
“It was going to be their choice in how our players came out, whether we were going to wrap it up quickly or win this the hard way,” Dubois explained.
“It was pretty clear early on last night that our guys were fully motivated to end this in two games and not draw this series out.”
“And full credit to the players for their effort because they played with an intensity level that was going to be tough for anybody to match,” he added.
Goals by Marcus McCrea, Jackson Garrett and team captain Logan Proulx staked the Saints to the early lead in a period the home side outshot the visitors by a 20-6 margin.
“That had been a theme for them in the playoffs,” Dubois said. “(TWU netminder Silas) Matthys had played in one of the pro leagues in Switzerland and he had stolen a couple games in the first round against SFU (Simon Fraser University) and had a couple of real strong games against us at the end of the regular season . . . a couple of games when he had 50-plus saves in narrow wins so getting up on him early set the tone.”
Trinity Western cut the margin to 3-1 in the second as Blair Murphy snuck one past Chris Hurry in the Selkirk nets. The goal was the only blemish on another stellar night between the pipes for the Summerland native.
But Connor McLaughlin regained the three-goal advantage, scoring on the power play for Selkirk.
McLaughlin finished the playoffs tied for the points lead with teammate Cody Fidgett — each with six points — and also even with teammates Beau Taylor and Garrett for goal scored — each with four.
In the third is was Garrett with his second of the game rounding out the scoring.
Selkirk netminder Chris Hurry won for the fourth time this season, stopping 15 of 16 shots to secure the win as the Saints out shot the Spartans 40-16.
“The final series last year against SFU was real tight,” said Dubois, working out the details with Selkirk College brass on his return for season three with the Saints.
“This year you never want to say you had an easier time but we were luck to get ahead 3-0 in both games, and Trinity Western, a real good, hard-working team . . . by getting a couple of big leads we were able to dictate the play and make them to chase us a little bit and get the job done.”
PLAYOFF BANTER: Speedster Cody Fidgett scored minutes into the overtime during game two in 2013 to power Selkirk to its inaugural BCIHL title with a 3-2 victory over Simon Fraser University at the NDCC Arena in Nelson. Saints swept the series 2-0. . . . The second BCIHL title in as many years moves Selkirk to within one of the championship won lead held by Simon Fraser University (2008, 2010 & 2011) and University of Victoria (2007, 2009 & 2012) — each with three titles. . . .Coach of Selkirk Jeff Dubois has already started recruiting for next seasons, landing the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League regular season scoring champ Jamie Vlanich of the Nelson Leafs . . . . It’s been rumoured Carsen Willans, the Leafs leading scorer in the playoffs, is off to UVIC for next season. . . . The game attracted 768 fans to the Castlegar Rec Complex and 627 for Friday.
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