The Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation (PBCN) Selects are heading to the KJHL finals. PBCN swept the Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation (NCN) Flames Saturday in Thompson, winning 5-1 and earning a spot in the championship series for the first time.
Going into Saturday’s game, the Selects were ahead 2-0 in the series, having beaten the Flames twice at the Whitney Forum earlier in the month. One more win in the best-of-five series would move PBCN into their first-ever KJHL final.
The game, which was originally scheduled to be played in Nelson House’s Gilbert MacDonald Arena, was moved to Thompson’s C.A. Nesbitt Arena last week, pulling the decisive game away from NCN’s normal home turf but not off familiar ground - the Flames have played home games at the Thompson arena in the past, but only twice this season before last weekend.
Regardless of the venue switch, the Selects got on the board first courtesy of a Kadin Eetuk goal late in the first period. In the second, the Selects ran away with the game, with Owen Angootealuk scoring a minute in and Mathis Bacon-Labbe and Dominic Suhr each adding markers.
A mid-second period skirmish between the two teams near the penalty boxes ended with several players being ejected, including Eetuk and NCN’s Conroy Halcrow. NCN’s Albert Sinclair Jr. got a goal to get the Flames on the board midway through the second, but that was as close as the home team would get.
Harlan Jacobson restored the Selects’ four-goal lead late in the third. A pair of NCN players were tossed late in the third, but PBCN’s defence and goalie Ethan Fechter shut the door down the stretch, stopping 32 shots en route to making history.
The victory pushes the Selects into their first-ever KJHL final series and a chance to win the club’s first league title in only their second season.
In that final, PBCN will play the Peguis Juniors, who finished the season atop the KJHL standings. The Juniors finished off a hard-fought five-game series with Cross Lake Tuesday with a 7-6 win, eliminating the Islanders.
Peguis will have a home-ice advantage over the Selects and will have a shot at their seventh-straight league championship. The Juniors eliminated the Selects from the playoffs last season, beating PBCN in a three-game sweep en route to the title.
A Juniors/Selects matchup will also mean a reunion for Flin Flon’s Freddy Ledoux, who played for the Selects this season and started the year with PBCN before being traded to Peguis - Ledoux scored a pair of goals for the Juniors last week in Cross Lake.
Over the regular season, the Selects beat Peguis twice to start the season, including a 13-2 win Oct. 15 at the Whitney Forum, but Peguis won the next four games against PBCN, taking the season series.
Games 1 and 2 of the finals will be played at the Peguis Multiplex March 30 and 31, with the series returning to the Whitney Forum April 2 and 3 for Games 3 and 4. Game 5, if needed, will be played in Peguis April 5, with Game 6 returning to Flin Flon April 7 - a decisive Game 7 would be played in Peguis April 9.
