Just two days after the conclusion of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League (VIJHL) regular season, the Peninsula Panthers and Westshore Wolves will kick start the eight-team post-season Monday night.
Peninsula Panthers head coach Tyler Stanton said their Saturday night clash was a great way to tune up before the playoffs.
"Our last game of the season against Campbell River was a blessing in disguise with the game going to overtime," said Stanton. "That final tune-up gave us a great chance to get into playoff mode with a battle against a great team."
Ahead of game one, the VIJHL announced award winners from the 2024-25 season.
Stanton earned the Eddie B次元官网网址楾he StormB次元官网网址� Kingston Award for Coach of the Year. Stanton led the Panthers to a second-place finish in the South division with a 33-11-3-1 record.
"There was an element of surprise for sure," said Stanton. "We saw the president (Mark MacDonald) come to the ice, which was on the same night as the announcement of our rebrand, so I kind of just assumed he was there for that. To my surprise, it was to announce me as the Coach of the Year"
This was the second honour for Stanton, earlier being named the South division coach for the 2024-25 all-star game.
"It has definitely been one of my favourite years of coaching to date," said Stanton. "Our entire group of 26 players have bought in and it has really reflected with our success. The guys are all very close and make coming to the rink such a pleasure."
While the individual awards became the talking point on Monday, the looming post-season will become the focal point as the eight playoff teams shift their focus to the big prize, the Brent Patterson Memorial Trophy.
Peninsula and Westshore will meet Monday at the Panorama Recreation Centre with puck-drop slated for 7:30 p.m.
"We've known that we would be squaring off with them (Westshore) since the beginning of last week, so we have really been able to put in the work behind the scenes as a group and prepare for this matchup," said Stanton.
The Panthers and Wolves met six times during the regular season, with the Panthers earning victories on four occasions.
Stanton has ties to the Wolves organization, suiting up for the Wolves in 39 games between 2014-2016, during that time, he was coached by current Wolves head coach Brian Passmore.
"Westshore is a very well-balanced team, who is very well coached. They have an older group who carry speed and a very talented starting goaltender (Dryden DeMelo)," said Stanton. "We are going to rely on our depth up and down the lineup, while taking things game-by-game to ensure we aren't getting ahead of ourselves."
Peninsula and Westshore are one of four VIJHL semifinal series, with the other South division matchup featuring the regular-season champion Kerry Park Islanders and fourth-placed Victoria Cougars.
In the North division, the Campbell River Storm will meet the Lake Cowichan Kraken, while the Port Alberni Bombers will square off with the Comox Valley Glacier Kings.
Other individual awards saw Kerry Park Islanders' forward Carson Brown earn the Doug Morton Trophy for regular season scoring, as well as the Jamie Benn Trophy for most valuable player. Brown's 100 points were the seventh most in a single season in VIJHL history.
His teammate, Max Carlson, was the recipient of the Clayton Stoner trophy for top defenceman in the league. Carlson tallied 50 points, which was eight more than the next closest defenceman.
Victoria Cougars forward and local-product Cole Patterson was named the top forward. The 2005-born forward spent the 2023-24 season with the Saanich Predators, before joining the Cougars for the 2024-25 campaign.
