It took three years, but Mr. Jake's Steakhouse finally had a taste of playoff action.
The Prince George all-star team finished atop Division 1 at the BC Ball Hockey Association provincial championship, held in the Greater Vancouver area over the weekend, competing in the men's senior C league against 12 other teams.
Unfortunately, Mr. Jake's was shot down in its semifinal game against the Surrey Assassins 4-2 on Sunday morning. The Assassins went on to claim the gold medal making the Coquitlam Sabres their next victims in the final with a 4-1 win.
Nick Buljevic, the 33-year-old veteran on the Mr. Jake's squad, said it was a disappointing conclusion to the team's weekend.
"We expected a little better game then we played, but you win some, you lose some," said Buljevic. "It's hard to win this tournament because there are no quarterfinals as teams go straight to the semifinal."
Mr. Jake's romped through round-robin play with a 3-0 record. The local club started with a 5-3 win against Burnaby, dumped Penticton 7-0 and beat Vernon 5-1.
Nick Matte led Mr. Jake's with seven points, including three goals, in the round robin, while Prince George Cougars forward Jari Erricson, trading his skates for sneakers, put up a goal and four helpers in his first year with the team. Matte scored both goals in the semifinal for Mr. Jake's.
"He was probably our best player today," said Buljevic about Matte's semifinal performance.
The third-place finish - there is no bronze-medal game - moved Mr. Jake's up two spots from their fifth-place finish in 2011.
In goal for the Prince George team was Michael Garteig, playing in his second provincial championship with Mr. Jake's, fresh off a stellar season in his final BC Hockey League season capturing the junior A Canadian championship, the RBC Cup, with the Penticton Vees. During a record-setting regular season with the Vees, Garteig piled up 41 regular-season victories.
Garteig had a 1.60 goals against average through the round-robin games.
After three years of receiving an exemption to the provincial tournament Mr. Jake's will need to participate in the BC Ball Hockey Association in 2013. In a league, the winning team would have to maintain it's opening day roster with only three reserve spots to pick up players.
This year was the first opportunity Mr. Jake's had in three provincial championship appearances to play a playoff game, having finished with 2-1 records in 2010 and 2011 and missing the semifinal game on goal differential.
"We did what we could to finally get out of the round robin," said Buljevic about recruiting Erricson and the Duncan brothers, Jordan and Justin.
-- with files from Jason Peters
