By Ian Holmes

Buccaneers outgun Generals 5-4 in playoff opener

Feb 20, 2018 | 10:11 PM

NANAIMO — A late goal from Trent Bell vaulted the Nanaimo Buccaneers to a 5-4 victory over the visiting Oceanside Generals in a fast and physical game to open the VIJHL playoffs at the Pirate Ship.

The Bucs held leads of 3-2 and 4-3 at the intermission breaks and had difficulty shaking off a less skilled, but hard-working and resilient Generals squad.

Nanaimo’s Mathieu Jallabert was the most dominant player on the ice, leading the way with a goal and two assists. He told NanaimoNewsNOW while it’s nice to get the win, they need to play better, including in their own zone.

“We tried to cheat a little bit out of our own zone and force passes, we need to support a little bit lower with our forwards.”

Nanaimo faced adversity early when forward Brandon Roberge was ejected after a first period hit-from-behind. Nanaimo’s cardio was tested throughout the fast-paced game, which saw the Bucs play most of it with just 10 forwards.

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Other Nanaimo goal-scorers were Brandon Armstrong, Clayton Peace and Luc Wilson.

Brodie Smith responded with two goals for the Parksville based Generals, while Brady Kay and Landon Dziadyk scored the others.

Special teams were a huge factor, as the Bucs went 3-for-6 on the power-play, while Oceanside was 2-for-9.

Derek Krall made 23 saves for Nanaimo, while Generals goaltender Jacob Sweet registered 32 stops.

Bucs head coach Curtis Toneff said they weren’t at their best, but was pleased with their energy level.

“It’s game one, guys are nervous, guys have been thinking about this since September, so now here it is and the real horses are going to step up now.”

Toneff expected affiliate player Brendan Rogers to suit up at some point in the series. The Bucs will likely be without injured forwards Jaydon Schubert, Darian Harris and Jacob Gosling for the entire series.

Coach Toneff said game 2 Thursday night in Nanaimo will be important in establishing a degree of control in the series.

“They’re (Oceanside) not going to go away and I think they feel they have a chance and we have to put an end to that Thursday.”

The Buccaneers had a 9-1 regular season record against the Generals. Three of those Bucs victories came in overtime. Nanaimo defeated the Generals 4-3 in extra time and 5-2 in a home-and-home series to close out the regular season.

Ian@NanaimoNewsNow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes