Vancouver Island University’s hockey club made history with its first-ever championship.
The VIU Mariners won the B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League title this past weekend in Logan Lake, defeating the UVic Vikes by a 6-2 score in the final Sunday, March 3.
It was a breakthrough for the M’s after a string of runner-up finishes, and one veteran panned at the medal ceremony that he didn’t know the medals came in gold.
“It was elation,” said team president Gord Nowicki. “It’s been a great team for many years, but this was the year that we did it.”
VIU had a sparkling 17-3 regular season, which put them in the semifinals, and in a quirk of the double-knockout tournament format, VIU played UVic in both the semis and the finals, winning 4-3 and then 6-2.
“Our best players were our best players,” Nowicki said. “They brought it to the next level. They really put the team on their backs and just went full steam ahead.”
But he added that the Mariners’ greatest strength all season, including the playoff tourney, was the way that all players committed to their roles and executed to the best of their abilities. In crunch time, the M’s kept things simple, kept their shifts short and stuck to their systems.
“They knew it was playoff hockey and they knew how to bear down and focus and put it together,” he said.
Logan Kurki led VIU in the final with two goals and Gavin Rauser, Carson Erhardt, Tyson Lautard and Caleb Franklin also tallied. Goalie Derek Krall made 30 saves, including some “he had no business making,” as shots were 39-32.
In the semis, Kurki and Erhardt each scored twice and Krall made 29 saves.
The weekend featured a league awards banquet, and VIU’s Brock Palmer was chosen league MVP and Kurki was chosen rookie of the year. Palmer, Kurki and Maxwell Struss were named first-team all-stars and Ethan Jones and Lautard were second-team all-stars. Chris Jones was coach of the year and Simon Creighton was media person of the year.
Although the hockey club isn’t a funded program at the university, Nowicki said the championship can be celebrated as another success for VIU sports.
“Look at VIU basketball and volleyball. They’re champions. And now we can add hockey to that,” he said.
A lot of key players will now be graduating from VIU hockey, but the team can move forward with the reinforcement that their emphasis on recruiting good teammates is a model that works.
“These guys truly love each other, they’ll go to battle for each other, they’ll do anything for each other,” Nowicki said.
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