PJHL Media
The best-of-three Survivor Series round of the PJHL’ Stonehouse Cup playoffs has already seen one team advance while, as of Saturday afternoon, two other teams have yet to begin. It’s an active time in the postseason as a true Round 1 matchup is set to start on Monday and it pits the top scorer so far in the postseason against his old team.
Stepputat Stepping Up – In the first game of the Survivor Series round, Mission City Outlaws forward David Stepputat wasted no time putting his stamp on things with a natural hat trick – the first three goals of the game – and then a helper on the fourth in a 6-1 home win over Surrey. He scored again in the deciding second game, another game-winner, to give him four goals and a helper as the Outlaws took the minimum to dispatch the Knights. The next round brings a tough assignment as Mission City faces the Harold Brittain Conference No. 1 seed Ridge Meadows Flames who lost just four times in regulation this season. It’s a team Stepputat is familiar with as he played two seasons there plus the start of this one before joining the Outlaws. Stepputat had a goal in five games against the Flames this season but will hope to keep his playoff hot hand into this best-of-seven.
Men of Steel – Grandview got flawless goaltending from Ronin Geraghty in a 1-0 win over White Rock Wednesday that puts the Steelers a game away from moving on. A shorthanded tally by Ben Ruthven in the first period was all the support Gerahty needed as he turned aside 28 pucks for the shutout. The postseason seems to suit Geraghty as he now has two shutouts in six career PJHL playoff games after recording two shutouts in 56 regular season games over three seasons.
Itchin’ For Puck Drop – By the time the Langley Trappers and Chilliwack Jets face off in Game 1 of their series on Sunday, four other games will have been played and one team has advanced. Chilliwack went 3-2 against Langley in the regular season, including a 4-2 road win in their last meeting on Feb. 7, but both teams would probably like to get started and get some momentum going as their last regular season games were on Feb. 11 and 12 respectively.
Also kicking at the starting gate are the North Van Wolf Pack and Delta Ice Hawks who begin their Round 1 best-of-seven on Feb. 20. Both teams finished the regular season on Feb. 10. The teams went 3-3 in the regular season and have not seen each other since Jan. 16, a 4-2 win for the Wolf Pack.
