Tuesday, February 20, 2024 - Submitted by the NCHL
The 1st round of this season's Vanberg Cup playoffs came to a close last weekend. In the North Division 1st place Devon finished off 4th place Morinville in 3 games which wasn't a surprise. The other series saw 3rd place Bonnyville upset 2nd place Westlock in 4 games.
In the South Division, 1st place Red Deer got pushed by 4th place Camrose, but still came out on top in 4 games, while 2nd place Lacombe did away with 3rd place Wetaskiwin in 3 games.
North Division
Devon made short work of the understaffed Morinville Kings, dumping them 13-1 in Morinville on Thursday. Adam Kelly 1-3-4 had a big night to lead the way for the Barons. Others to score were Braiden Doucette 1-1-2, Cody Issler 1-1-2, Eric Deleeuw 2-1-3, Austin Cunningham, Brody Beaulieu 2-1-3, Chris Van Os-Shaw 1-2-3, Evan Cox 1-1-2, Aaron Fedyk 1-2-3, Josh Dugas and Dayton Heino 1-1-2. Mike Gudmanson picked up the win stopping 25 of 26 KIng's shots. Replying for Morinville was Troy Burant and Garrett Storms was saddled with the loss. The Barons now move on to meet the Bonnyville Pontiacs while Morinville's season comes to an end. It's been a long season for the Kings, who in their 10 years in the NCHL had never had a sub-500 season. Coach Wayne Gatza has claimed all season that this was to be a rebuild year, and he promises they will be back!
Bonnyville was in Westlock on Friday for game 3 looking to sweep the Warriors. Westlock had other ideas and forced a 4th game by downing the Pontiacs 3-2. Brett Kampjes 1-1-2 was the hero on this night, scoring a shorthanded goal late in the 2nd period on a flip shot from near centre ice that Pontiac's Goaltender Ryan Weitzel mishandled that stood up as the game winner, and Warrior's goaltender Spencer Hutson was outstanding keeping Bonnyville off the scoresheet until late in the game. Jesse Morrission and Blair Boulerice also scored for the Warriors while Janson Pashniak and Dallas Desjarlais replied for the Pontiacs. Goaltender Ryan Weitzel stopped 27 shots in a losing cause.
On Saturday the teams returned to Bonnyville for game 4, with Westlock looking to extend the series back home for game 5, Bonnyville took an early 2-0 1st period lead and then scored 3 times in the last 5 minutes of the game to push the Pontiacs to the win. Jamahl Eakett 2-1-3 and Kona Jackson 1-1-2 powered the Pontiac's win, with singles coming from Coltan Buchta and Janson Pashniak. Drew Fleury picked up the win turning away 28 of 29 Westlock shots. Replying for the Warriors was Clayton Eisler and Spencer Hutson took the loss. Bonnyville now moves on the tangle with the Devon Barons for the North Division Championship.
South Division
On Wednesday, the Lacombe Generals moved to the Division Finals thanks to a hard earned 4-2 win over visiting Wetaskiwin Longhorns. This series was fast, tough, hard hitting and at times nasty as neither team gave anything away. The Generals power play was the difference this game as they went 2 for 6. Thomas Beretta 2-0-2 scored the tying and winning goals on the powerplay to lead the Generals, with Troy Maclise and Taylor Mulder (en) adding singles. Mac Engel was solid turning away 32 of 34 shots to pick up the win.. Replying for Wetaskiwin was Ryley Bennefield and Devon Buffalo was outstanding in a losing cause stopping 47 of 50 Generals shots.
After splitting the first 2 games of their series, the Camrose Bruins were in Penhold to take on the Red Deer Rustlers on Friday, but things didn't go particularly well for the Bruins as they were dumped 6-1. Dylan Houston 3-1-4 had a big night, with other goals coming from Justin Moltzahn, Nick Bell 1-1-2, and Dustin Claffey. Tyler Berkholtz chipped in with 0-3-3 and Brodan Salmond was again solid stopping 34 of 35 Bruins shots. Replying for Camrose was Carter Danczak and Curtis Skip took the loss turning away 54 shots.
The teams returned to Camrose on Saturday for game #4 where the Bruins took an early 2-0 lead into the dressing room. Red Deer replied with 2 of their own in the second period and each team scored once in the third (both shorthanded) to send the game into overtime. The OT was short however, as the Rustler's Ryley Smith scored at the 26 second mark to end this entertaining game. Tyler Berkholtz 2-0-2, and Mike Dempster also scored for the Rustlers and Brodan Salmond stopped 32 of 35 shots to pick up the win. Scoring for the Bruins were William Raymond 2-0-2 (1 while shorthanded) and Zaine Walker, while Curtis Skip took the loss turning away 43 shots. Red Deer's win sets up a return match with the 2nd place Lacombe Generals, a repeat of last season's Vanberg Cup Final series that Lacombe won in 5 games.
We haven't received the Lacombe/Red Deer schedule as of publication time, but the Devon/Bonnyville schedule is posted.
