The Nanaimo Buccaneers weren’t able to pull off a playoff upset.
The Bucs were eliminated from the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League post-season on Friday, losing 3-0 to the Campbell River Storm up Island to drop their first-round series four games to two.
Nanaimo didn’t fizzle out without a fight, as Game 6 saw some back-and-forth hockey as both teams finished with 40 shots on goal. Ryan Waldhaus made 37 saves for the Bucs but the Storm got power-play goals in the first and second periods to build a lead.
The Bucs had pushed the series to six games with a 4-2 win the night before at the Nanaimo Ice Centre in which Johnathan Speer, Garrett Dunlop, Jake Calverley and Thor Rosback scored goals and Waldhaus earned the win.
“Winning and losing … you can learn lots from both, but it’s not who you are,” said Brad Knight, Bucs coach. “Who you are is how hard you work. The rest of it you can’t control.”
ICE CHIPS … Under the VIJHL’s crossover playoff format, Campbell River will play the Victoria Cougars in one semifinal series and the other semi has the Comox Valley Glacier Kings playing the Peninsula Panthers.
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