Week Eight: Playoff race tightens

The playoff race in the SCWHL got a little tighter after the six games played in Week Eight.

The Burnaby Mountain Capitals won two of three games on a road trip to Vancouver Island, while the Island Surge handed the Caps their only loss of the weekend, leaving both teams just one point back of the idle Fraser Valley Jets, which occupies the sixth and final playoff position with a 3-2-1 (win-loss-tie) record.

Burnaby Mountain began their weekend with an 8-1 victory over the Cowichan Titans Friday night in Duncan, with Carolyn Leone and Kayla White leading the way with two goals and an assist each. Julia Clauzel, Megan Jokai, Lauren McKay and Grace Hanberg netted one goal each.

Taylor Simms replied for the Titans, who are 0-7-0 on the season.

Saturday night in North Saanich, the Capitals defeated the Surge 5-2 at the Panorama Rec Centre for their second consecutive win. Outshooting the Surge 50-28, Burnaby Mountain got a pair of goals from Molly Cho and one each from Clauzel, Jokai and Hanberg.

Dayna Leonard and Kylene Dupuis tallied for the Surge.

The next morning at the Esquimalt Arena, the Surge posted a 4-0 victory over the Capitals. Island goalie Syndey Akai-Platt made 35 saves for the shutout, while Leonard, Jenna Wasylik, Haylie Choo and Sara Charbonneau netted a goal each.

The result left Burnaby Mountain (3-6-0) and the Surge (3-8-0) a point out of the final playoff position.

The Kamloops Vibe earned three of a possible four points in a two-game series at home against the Richmond Devils.

The Vibe won the opener 6-2 Saturday night at the Memorial Arena with Rochelle Smith netting two goals and an assist and Jaedon Cooke scoring once and assisting on two others. Majorie Boisvert, Melinda Smith and Allison Aie also scored for Kamloops, with Lauren Miller and Ivana Bilic replying for Richmond.

In Sunday’s rematch, also at the Memorial Arena, the Devils fell behind by a goal after taking a 2-0 lead in the second period, then scored a tying goal with six minutes to play to earn a 3-3 tie.

Miller, Ashley Specht and Marisa Chau scored the goals for Richmond, while Boisvert, Kathleen Cahoon and Jenna Fletcher tallied for Kamloops. Richmond overtook the Jets for fifth place in the league at 3-4-2, while Kamloops increased their lead atop the standings at 8-1-2.

The South Fraser TNT are four points back of the Vibe at 6-1-2 after a 3-0 win over the Meadow Ridge Moose at the Langley Sportsplex Saturday night, with Melinda Choy making 37 saves for her league-leading third shutout of the season.

Steph Strymecki, Jaime Jacquard-Sowa and Michelle Zeigler were the TNT goal scorers.

The loss was the third straight for the fourth-place Moose, which saw their record fall to 4-4-1. Thursday night at the Mody Park Arena in New Westminster, Meadow Ridge fell 4-3 to the North Shore Rebels.

Emily Duchak, Alexandra Hendrickson and Shay-Lee McConnell gave the Moose a 3-0 lead after two periods of play. Haneet Parhar, Karmen Mooney, Brooks Patron and Jess Sibley scored in the final 12 minutes of play to lift the Rebels to the win, and to stay in third place at 5-2-2.