The Regular season has come to an end and now the Playoffs are right around the corner!
Tuesday night in White Rock the North Vancouver Wolf Pack will battle the White Rock Whalers to start Round 1. The Pack will enter Tuesday’s game having lost their last two games both 3-2 in overtime while White Rock enters the playoffs coming off of a 9-3 loss against the Richmond Sockeyes. The two clubs played each other six times during the regular season and split the season-series.
WHITE ROCK WHALERS
OVERVIEW:
Head Coach: Jason Rogers
Home Record: 11-10-1-0
Road Record: 16-6-0-0
Regular Season Record: 27-16-1-0 55PTS
Standings: 4th in Tom Shaw Conference and 7th in the league
RS Goals For/Goals Against: 161 GF/ 140 GA +21
Power Play: 22.6% (7th)
Penalty Kill: 78.2% (9th)
Leading Scorers: Chris Fortems (42GP-17G-44A-61P), Ewan Rennie (25GP-19G-22A-41P), Cole Svendson (37GP-20G-12A-32P)
LEADING THE POD
Chris Fortems (F), Matthew Burry (F), and “Butch” La Rue (D) are three players on the Whalers roster who played against the Wolf Pack in the Playoffs two seasons ago.
Chris Fortems (2002) led his team in points this season. The Delta, BC native finished the regular season with 17 goals and 44 assists for 61 points in 42 games. Fortems averaged just under two points a game and scored four goals and recorded four assists for eight points in six games against the Wolf Pack this season.
Matthew Burry (2001) tallied 15 goals and 16 assists for 31 points in 44 regular season games this season. Burry was one of two Whalers players to have played in all 44 regular season games. In six games against his hometown team, Burry had an assist.
“Butch” La Rue (2001) is one of three 2001-born players on his team and the only player on his roster to suit up in 43 games during the regular season. The product of South Surrey, BC managed three goals and 12 assists for 15 points in the 43 games that he played in. This season against the Wolf Pack, La Rue had two assists in six games.
NORTH VANCOUVER WOLF PACK
OVERVIEW:
Head Coach: Matt Samson
Road Record: 18-4-0-0
Home Record: 13-3-5-1
Regular Season Record: 31-7-5-1 68PTS
Standings: 1st in Tom Shaw Conference and 2nd in the league
RS Goals For/Goals Against: 175 GF /110 GA +65
Power Play: 20.5% (8th)
Penalty Kill: 87.6% (1st)
Leading Scorers:
David Coyle (42GP-28G-30A-58P), JJ Pickell (43GP-28G-27A-55P), Ryan Hunter (44GP-15G-35A-50P)
THE GREY WOLVES
Devin Bailey, Jake Loverock, and Donovan Bellmond-Griffin are all 2001-born forwards and are the oldest players in their Pack. Devin Bailey is the only player who has experience in the Playoffs with the Wolf Pack as he was part of the 2019-2020 Wolf Pack team while Jake Loverock played postseason hockey with the Langley Trappers.
Devin Bailey (Squamish, BC) made his first game back with the Wolf Pack on Saturday night a memorable one as he scored his first goal of the season against the Grandview Steelers. Bailey brings what few players on the Wolf Pack have which is playoff experience and that is certainly a valuable trait at this time.
Jake Loverock (Port Coquitlam, BC) has two games of PJHL experience under his belt and those two games came while Loverock was a member of the Langley Trappers during the 2019-2020 season. Loverock was acquired at the trade deadline from the Grandview Steelers for future considerations and has one goal and two assists for a total of three points in seven games with his new club.
Donovan Bellmond-Griffin (Surrey, BC) was acquired by the Wolf Pack prior to the trade deadline in a trade that saw Jobey Pearson and future considerations head to his former team, the Lake Cowichan Kraken. Bellmond-Griffin enters the PJHL playoffs with one goal and three assists in eight games with the Wolf Pack
The Wolf Pack are no strangers to playing the Whalers in the first round of the PJHL Playoffs as these two teams battled one another in the first round back in the 2019-2020 playoffs too. It was the Wolf Pack who went on to defeat White Rock in five games.
Round 1 Playoffs Schedule:
GAME 1: Tuesday, February 15 @ 7:45 WR
GAME2: Saturday, February 19 @ 7:00 NV
GAME 3: Sunday, February 20 @ 6:00 NV
GAME 4: Thursday, February 24 @ 7:45 WR
GAME 5*: TBD
GAME 6*: TBD
GAME 7*: TBD
* IF NECESSARY
