The South Island Knights didn’t go down without a fight.
The Senior Men’s AA hockey squad, with residents of Chemainus included in the lineup, took on the North Island Capitals in a two-game series at Port McNeill for the right to advance in the Coy Cup playoffs.
The season came to an end after the Knights were beaten 7-1 in the first game that was much closer than the score appeared and 6-4, with an empty net goal, in the rematch.
The Knights traveled with 13 skaters and two goalies, a far better representation than they had for many road games during the season, but just couldn’t get the desired result.
“It got away from us, we had a bad second period in the first game,” said Knights’ spokesman Jon Hollett. “We had a much better second game, but their goalie put in a great performance.”
Cody Short opened the scoring in the first game, but that was it for the offense and the Capitals racked up seven unanswered goals.
A.J. Dzhevelekyan led the way in the rematch with a pair of goals while singles came from Nick Hui and Jamie Russell.
The Capitals opened up a 3-0 lead in the second game and looked well on their way to another lopsided win, but the Knights closed the gap to 4-3 after the second period and came up just short in the end.
“We played well,” noted Hollett. “We got lots of chances, two-on-ones and breakaways, but we just couldn’t score.”
The Knights lost some key personnel from their inaugural season that showed in their games.
“I think we could have beat them with last year’s team,” offered Hollett.
It’s not certain what’s going to happen next season with the Knights, who play their home games at Fuller Lake Arena. The fan turnout has been sparse and it’s been increasingly more difficult to get player commitments.
Hollett would also love for someone to take over the running of the team so he can concentrate on playing. “I don’t have a lot of time and energy left,” he indicated.
If someone doesn’t step forward, it’s uncertain whether the team will even operate in 2018-19.