The Nanaimo Buccaneers looked more like contenders than rookies on most nights during their first season.
The city’s Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League club saw its inaugural season come to a close Saturday with a 6-3 road loss versus the Comox Valley Glacier Kings. The Yetis won the best-of-seven series four games to two.
Nanaimo got down 4-1 after two periods Saturday and kept playing a feisty game, but couldn’t catch up.
Thor Rosback, Derian Hamilton and Garrett Dunlop scored the goals for the Buccaneers and goaltender Cam Large, playing his final game of junior hockey, suffered the loss.
“We obviously wanted to keep going and you never want to see the boys lose, but overall we had a great season,” said Brenda Levesque, one of the team’s owners. “We had a great bunch of kids and we exceeded expectations.”
The Buccaneers finished the regular season atop the North Island Division with a 27-17-4 record and won one playoff round.
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