Mariners go up early, hold on late to beat Eastern in Lake Cowichan

Vancouver Island University came storming out of the gates early on Saturday, but Eastern Washington regrouped and came close to completing an improbable comeback in what would eventually end as a 5-4 Mariners win in Lake Cowichan.

Tyler Kerner opened the scoring for VIU midway through the first period and Kobe Oishi and Josh Cook quickly tacked on a pair of shorthanded goals, putting the hosts up three within a span of 2:10. Beau Walker put Eastern on the board moments later, but Oishi scored his second of the night before intermission to give VIU a 4-1 lead after 20 minutes.

Reid Coleman extended the Mariners' advantage to four early in the second, but the Eagles began chipping away from there.

Brett Mathews scored EWU's first of the period with 5:29 remaining and Walker notched his second of the night with two minutes left on the clock to pull the visitors to within a pair.

Walker completed his hat trick, with a Mathews assist giving him four points on the day, with 2:04 left in regulation but Eastern couldn't find an equalizer with the goalie pulled late in the game.

Austin Brihn started the game for Eastern but was relieved by Tanner Loucks after VIU's third goal. Loucks stood tall the rest of the way, allowing two goals on 39 shots. Mariners netminder Cole Manns made his first BCIHL start and picked up his first win, stopping 31 shots.

With the win, VIU moves to 12-10-0-0 on the season. The Mariners are locked into the fourth playoff seed with three games remaining. EWU fell to 1-21-0-1 on the year.

VIU will close out their home schedule next Saturday when Trinity Western University visits in a likely first round playoff preview set for an 8:00 PM faceoff. Meanwhile, the Eagles return home to host Simon Fraser University on Sunday at 2:00 PM in Cheney.