Clan advance to the semi-final with strange win over Okanagan

The Simon Fraser University Men’s Hockey team is into the BCIHL championship semi-final after one of the whackiest games in league history.

The Clan barely hung on to beat the Okanagan College Coyotes 8-6 on the first day of the tournament on Wednesday.

“There were no systems in this game. It was a ridiculous kind of game," says Coyotes head coach Kim Barnstable. "Whoever was going to outman the other guy was going to get a chance to score, and a lot of pucks went in that normally wouldn’t. It was just a strange game all around.”

The game was shaping up to be an SFU blowout, as the hosts jumped out to a 5-1 lead midway through the second period.

Sunny Gill replaced Adam Butler in net after four goals. But after falling behind, the Coyotes stormed back with four of the next five goals to make it 6-4 going into the third.

Clan head coach Mark Coletta says among many things his team didn’t get the kind of goaltending they need in the playoffs.

“I think there’s a combination of things,” he says. “One of them is Mully [Clan netminder Justin Mulholland]. I think he knows he’s got to be better. He was shaky from the start. I think number two, that [Anthony Ferrari] hit from behind was a big momentum swing, especially if you capitalize on it and they did.”

Luc Blinkhorn’s power-play goal made it 5-2 with five minutes left in the second, and 29 seconds later Keagan Little closed the gap to two.

In the third, James Nietsch scored to make it a one-game hockey game, 6-5, and the Coyotes were a couple bounces away from tying it.

But a pair of empty-netters saved the Clan in the end to help them advance to the semi-final on Friday night.

“The old saying is, ‘a win is a win is a win.’ We’ll take it. Friday night we’ll go at it, whoever we play whether it’s UVic or TRU. Makes no difference to us as a group. We’re going to prepare ourselves as if we’re going to pick up the pace and play our game at our speed.”

The Clan will match up with the winner of tonight’s game between top-ranked Thompson Rivers University and UVic.

Coletta says Mulholland will be in net. The Wolfpack and Vikes face off at 7:30 at the Bill Copeland Sports Centre.

Yesterday, UVic steamrolled past Trinity Western 9-3 in the opening game of the BCIHL playoffs.

The Spartans, meanwhile, play Okanagan College later this afternoon, 4:30 at the Burnaby Winter Club. It’s the first elimination game of the tournament, with the loser going home for good.

The Coyotes will be without defenseman Josh Collins, who’s lost for the remainder of the tournament with a separated shoulder.

Despite that loss on the blueline, Barnstable says his group needs a better start, expecting a tough challenge from TWU.

“We were just flat tonight and I expect both teams will be better with a game under our belt,” he notes. “They’ll come hard. They always play us tough.”

The winner will move on to face the loser of the TRU-UVic battle on Friday.

Thursday's Playoff Schedule

#3 Okanagan College vs. #5 Trinity Western, 4:30 at Burnaby Winter Club.

#1 Thompson Rivers vs. #4 University of Victoria, 7:30 at Bill Copeland Sports Centre.