KIJHL Final Starts Tonight

Kamloops Squeaks Out Wins In Game's 4 & 5
Against Sicamous to Take Okanagan-Shuswap Title

The Kamloops Storm face the Nelson Leafs this week in the KIJHL Final and fittingly it pits the top 2 teams from regular season play. Nelson swept through the playoffs, losing only one game in the first round to Spokane but the Kamloops Storm had a little different story getting there.

Because of the round-robin format the the Ok-Sh division in the first series, Kamloops ended up playing 8 games to Nelson's 5. Round 2 was similar as both teams swept their opponents in 4 straight. The conference finals saw Nelson dispose of last year's champion, the Fernie Ghostriders, in 3 games while the Storm were faced with the prospect of going out early when they found themselves down 2 games to 1 and trailing 2-1 half way throught the 2nd period in game 4. The prospects at that point looked a little grim.

And then... the leaders led. Gore, Reyes and Ludvig picked it up a notch. You could see Jose wasn't going to lose to his former team if he had anything to do with it. Scott Kirkham, who has trouble finishing earlier in the playoffs came alive. Justin Palazzo tightened up on his defense and wound up his booming shot to become a big part of the offense again.

Austin Goode may have been the most effective forward through the last couple of series. He picked up his intensity and was effective in all three situations that he was called upon. As well as playing his regular shift, Austin was tenacious on the PK and was sharp as the set-up man on the PP.

Anthony Manfredi rose to the challenge in the last 2 outings to put Sicamous away. His counterparts in the last 2 series were outstanding he refused to be outplayed.

Ryan Hanes has been a breath of fresh air with his work effort, quick shot and aggressive checking.
Taylor Stuart was another pleasant surprise. He and James Friedel are the 2 most improved forwards this year. I didn't pick either of them to make it into November.

The rest of the team also raised their games against Sicamous. I was proud of the effors of guys like Galbraith, McCance, Medlan-Marchen and Naka. And what can you say about Sean Menton and Ty Jackson, 2 guys that have given a great effort all year. And I don't think that any team in the KIJHL oculd compete with the quality of AP players that were able to contribute to the success throughout the season including the playoffs. It was a team effort and when they started to play with some fire in their belly, they looked like the Conference champions that was expected of them. Now it's time to keep that cohesiveness when they take on the powerful Nelson Leafs.

I'm sure that the Leafs are the prohibitive favorites and I can understand that. They should be. They beat Kamloops on both occassions that they met Kamlooops during the season. I suppose that the only advantage that the Storm will have is that they have been in the finals the last 2 seasons. If the Storm hope to avoid being the bridesmaid one more time, they need to raise their efforts to the next level to pull this one out.

My heart says Kamloops in 7 but head says Nelson in 5. All I know is that before the month is out, we will know.