Hailey Armstrong’s hat trick was an act of deception that failed to meet the approval of the visiting Vancouver Island Seals.
Armstrong’s antics on the ice in a 4-1 victory for the Northern Capitals Friday afternoon at Kin 2 were purely offensive and left the Seals trailing the BC Elite Hockey League under-18 female triple-A best-of-three opening round series 1-0.
Armstrong scored her first of the game less than three minutes in, and Rachel Loewen made it a 2-0 count at the seven-minute mark. The Seals solved goalie Karsyn Niven before the first period ended, but Armstrong and her linemates Jessa Brewer and Brooklyn Hutchings had an answer for that.
They connected with Armstrong, the finisher, 12 minutes into the second period to open up a 3-1 lead and Armstrong notched her third of the game early in the third period.
The teams return to Kin 2 Saturday at 10 a.m. and the Capitals will have a chance to wrap up the series. If a third game is needed it would be played Sunday at 9 a.m., also at Kin 2.
Coached by Mario Desjardins, the Prince George-based Capitals finished second in their five-team league with a 22-7-0-3 record, while the Seals ended up third (13-18-0-1).
The winner advances to the second round against the winner of the Fraser Valley Rush-Thompson Okanagan Lakers series, which starts tonight in Langley.
Meanwhile, in the U-15 triple-A division playoffs in North Vancouver, the Cariboo Cougars of Prince George dropped their third game at the round-robin tournament Friday morning, losing a heartbreaker 5-4 to the Greater Vancouver Canadians in overtime.
Miller Bruckshaw scored two goals for the Canadians, including the winner, 37 seconds into overtime.
The teams were tied 2-2 after one period. Brett Peebles and Jaxson Larmand scored for Cariboo and Bruckshaw and Kendric Liu found he mark for Greater Vancouver. The teams traded goals in the second period. Grady Gustafson put the Cougars and up 3-2 with about 15 minutes gone in the period but Terrence Wang knotted the score with 3:46 left on the clock.
In the third period, Hunter Henry gave Cariboo the go-ahead goal three minutes in, and they styed ahead until, with 31 second left and goalie Marcus Taylor on the bench, Liu tied it with his second goal of the game.
Ryder Green took the loss in goal for the Cougars.
The Cougars’ fortunes did not improve in the evening game against the South Island Royals and they dropped to 0-4 after a 4-1 defeat. Parker MacDougall scored three goals for the Royals and Cale Kaufmann also scored. Magnus Veldman was the lone Cariboo marksman.
On Thursday, Cariboo lost 2-1 to the Valley West Giants and 7-1 to the Okanagan Rockets.
At the U-17 triple-A playoffs in Abbotsford, the seventh-ranked Cariboo Cougars (14-21-0-1) lost 2-1 Friday to the second-place (26-6-1-3) Fraser Valley Thunderbirds in the first game of a best-of-three opening-round series.
All of the scoring happened in the second period. Connor Martin stoked the T-birds offence with the opening goal 4:35 in, and Justin Brar made it 2-0 at the 9:15 mark. Declan Pocock scored the Cougars goal o a Cariboo power play 11:51 into the period.
Game 2 of the series is set for Saturday at 2 p.m. If a third game is necessary it will be played Sunday starting at 9 a.m.
