February 26, 2019
Bantam Tier 1 Playoffs
The Final 4 contenders for the PCAHA Bantam Tier 1 championship have been decided.
Of the regular season league leaders, only the North Vancouver Storm survived the second round of playoff competition.
The #1 Storm faced #8 Richmond Jets in the quarter-final round, shutting them out 3-0 in game one, and then winning 3-1 in game two, to advance through the first-to-four points series.
In all three of the remaining series, the higher ranked teams were eliminated.
#2 Langley, who were pushed out of the #1 spot by North Van’s final 6-2 regular season game win over Richmond – were eliminated by #7 Cloverdale. Langley had opened with a 5-3 win, but then lost 3-2 in Cloverdale and 3-1 at home.
#3 Vancouver Thunderbirds met a similar fate against Chilliwack. The T-birds opened with an impressive 6-1 win, and then lost 4-1 and 5-3.
#4 Coquitlam tied their first game 2-2 vs #5 Semiahmoo, and then dropped the next two, 5-4 and 4-2.
Final 4 Schedule
North Van is hosting the Final 4, with all games at Harry Jerome Recreation Centre.
Play gets underway on at 3:15 PM, Sunday, March 3, and continues Monday, and Wednesday.
PCAHA Bantam Tier 1 Final 4 Schedule:
| VS | HOME | AWAY | Date | Time |
| 4 vs 1 | Cloverdale A1-T1 | North Van A1-T1 | 3-Mar | 15:15 |
| 2 vs 3 | Semiahmoo A1-T1 | Chilliwack A1-T1 | 3-Mar | 17:00 |
| 2 vs 4 | Semiahmoo A1-T1 | Cloverdale A1-T1 | 4-Mar | 18:00 |
| 1 vs 3 | North Van A1-T1 | Chilliwack A1-T1 | 4-Mar | 19:45 |
| 3 vs 4 | Chilliwack A1-T1 | Cloverdale A1-T1 | 6-Mar | 18:15 |
| 1 vs 2 | North Van A1-T1 | Semiahmoo A1-T1 | 6-Mar | 20:00 |
PCAHA Bantam Tier 1 Playoff Rounds Results:
| Round 1 – single game elimination | Results | Advance | ||
| 3 vs 16 | Van T-birds A1-T1 | Abbotsford A1-T1 | Van T-Birds 4-1 | #3 T-Birds |
| 4 vs 14 | Coquitlam A1-T1 | Burnaby A1-T1 | Coquitlam 5-0 | #4 Coquitlam |
| 5 vs 13 | Semiahmoo A1-T1 | South Delta A1-T1 | Semi 1-0 | #5 Semiahmoo |
| 6 vs 12 | Chilliwack A1-T1 | Surrey A1-T1 | Chilliwack 7-2 | #6 Chilliwack |
| 7 vs 11 | Cloverdale A1-T1 | NSWC A1-T1 | Cloverdale 5-3 | #7 Cloverdale |
| 9 vs 8 | Richmond Jets A1-T1 | RM A1-T1 | Richmond 4-1 | #9 Richmond |
| Round 2 – first to 4 pts. | Results | Advance | ||
| 1 vs 8 | North Van A1-T1 | Richmond Jets A1-T1 | NV 3-0 | |
| 8 vs 1 | Richmond Jets A1-T1 | North Van A1-T1 | NV 3-1 | #1 North Van |
| 2 vs 7 | Langley A1-T1 | Cloverdale A1-T1 | Langley 5-3 | |
| 7 vs 2 | Cloverdale A1-T1 | Langley A1-T1 | Cloverdale 3-2 | |
| 2 vs 7 | Langley A1-T1 | Cloverdale A1-T1 | Cloverdale 3-1 | #7 Cloverdale |
| 4 vs 5 | Coquitlam A1-T1 | Semiahmoo A1-T1 | 2-2 | |
| 5 vs 4 | Semiahmoo A1-T1 | Coquitlam A1-T1 | Semi 5-4 | |
| 5 vs 4 | Semiahmoo A1-T1 | Coquitlam A1-T1 | Semi 4-2 | #5 Semiahmoo |
| 3 vs 6 | Van T-birds A1-T1 | Chilliwack A1-T1 | Chilliwack 4-1 | |
| 6 vs 3 | Chilliwack A1-T1 | Van T-birds A1-T1 | Vancouver 6-1 | |
| 3 vs 6 | Van T-birds A1-T1 | Chilliwack A1-T1 | Chilliwack 5-3 | #6 Chilliwack |
Regular Season – PCAHA Bantam Flight 1
FLIGHT 1
North Vancouver Storm ended up on top of Flight 1 after roaring back with a tie and three wins over their final four games to edge out Langley A1 by a single point.
On January 24, the Storm were eight points back, with four games to play while Langley had just one game left.
North Van opened their do or die stretch with a 1-1 tie with Cloverdale on the 27th, then beat Everett 6-3 on January 28th, and Ridge Meadows 6-1 on the 29th; and then wrapped with 6-2 must win over Richmond in their last game of the regular season February 3.
Richmond had won the previous two matches, both by 4-2 decisions.
The Storm managed sportsmanship points in every game except the match vs Ridge Meadows – where they were assessed 34 PIMs; and needed all three points in the final game vs Richmond to secure the league championship title.
Incidentally, Ridge Meadows took 68 PIMS in the North Van game, just shy of their record of 75 in a game vs Semiahmoo, and finished with a league leading 392 PIMs.
Langley lost their sole remaining game, 5-3 vs Semiahmoo on January 28, to set up the title game for North Van vs Richmond.
At the end of the day, the point gained in the Storm’s 1-1 tie with Cloverdale was the difference – North Van finished 13-4-3, while Langley was 13-5-2; both teams finished with 17 sportsmanship points – not that it matters – sports are thrown out the window when determining playoff points.
The two teams split their two game regular season series. Langley won the first one 3-0 in their first regular season outing on November 3 – North Van answered with their own shutout, 5-0, three days later.
The Vancouver Thunderbirds finished three points back of Langley in third place, on a record of 11–4, and 16.
#4 Coquitlam finished five back of the T-Birds, and were the only other team to finish above .500 in the regular season.
#5 Semiahmoo was .500, at 8-8-4.
Chilliwack, Cloverdale and Ridge Meadows all finished with identical 7-10-3 records.
North Van finished with the Flight’s best offense with 77 goals and the best defense, with just 37 goals allowed, for the top GF-GA differential, of 40, almost double #2 Langley’s 21.
PCAHA Tier 1 Bantam Standings – Regular Season 2018-2019
Sportsmanship points removed to determine playoff rankings.
Boldface – through to Final 4.
| Bantam Flight 1 | ||||||||||
| R | Name | GP | W | L | T | Pts | GF | GA | Diff | PIM |
| 1 | North Van A1-T1 | 20 | 13 | 4 | 3 | 29 | 77 | 37 | 40 | 184 |
| 2 | Langley A1-T1 | 20 | 13 | 5 | 2 | 28 | 70 | 49 | 21 | 218 |
| 3 | Van T-Birds A1-T1 | 20 | 11 | 5 | 4 | 26 | 56 | 43 | 13 | 245 |
| 4 | Coquitlam A1-T1 | 20 | 9 | 8 | 3 | 21 | 61 | 57 | 4 | 247 |
| 5 | Semiahmoo A1-T1 | 20 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 20 | 47 | 51 | -4 | 264 |
| 6 | Chilliwack A1-T1 | 20 | 7 | 10 | 3 | 17 | 40 | 47 | -7 | 166 |
| 7 | Cloverdale A1-T1 | 20 | 7 | 10 | 3 | 17 | 45 | 60 | -15 | 252 |
| 9 | Ridge Meadows A1-T1 | 20 | 7 | 10 | 3 | 17 | 51 | 61 | -10 | 392 |
| 8 | Richmond A1-T1 | 20 | 4 | 11 | 5 | 13 | 45 | 63 | -18 | 161 |
| 10 | Everett A1 | 20 | 4 | 12 | 4 | 12 | 55 | 79 | -24 | 260 |
