It's down to crunch time for Team B.C. in the Canada Winter Games men's hockey tournament.
After three, less-than-stellar games in the preliminary round for the defending champions, the boys from B.C. have their work cut out for them in their quarterfinal elimination playoff tonight at 7:30 at Kin 2 against Quebec.
Win, and B.C. will be one game away from playing for gold. Lose, and the best the team can finish is fifth.
As bad as its 1-2 record looks on paper, there were plenty of positives to draw from B.C's 6-4 loss Tuesday to Ontario. Despite the loss, it was unquestionably the best game so far for the host team.
Down 5-2 in the third period, B.C. rallied to make it a one goal-game when James Malm scored, followed by Justin Almeida's turbocharged rush to beat his check with a burst of speed, drawing both defencemen to the puck before he passed to centre Jordan Bellerive for a shorthanded goal. Only problem was, Ontario's Greg Meireles connected for a power-play goal just 15 seconds later, picking up a pass from Hayden Davis that snuck through the legs of Michael Rasmussen onto the tape of Meireles's stick. That put the game out of reach for B.C.
"By far that was our best game against one of the top teams in the tournament so we have to put it all together and work on the problems we had and get better for Thursday," said Almeida, a Kitimat native who plays midget hockey in Prince George for the Cariboo Cougars. "It's a good atmosphere with all the fans who show up to our games and we just have to be better."
Almeida played his best game of the tournament but it wasn't good enough to prevent Ontario from clinching first place in the A pool at 3-0.
The tournament began ominously for B.C. when the club lost forward Lucas Cullen to a knee injury 22 seconds into its first game against New Brunswick. A couple minutes later B.C. was without forward Jordan Robinson, who collided with a New Brunswick player and left with a spleen injury. Robinson returned for Tuesday's game but Cullen is done for the tournament with a torn MCL.
Then on Monday, Bellerive, the B.C. captain and top scorer, got tossed out of a 5-2 loss to Manitoba early in the second period for an illegal hit.
B.C. head coach Jim Dinwoodie is hoping the worst is behind his team now and he has enough faith in his players to believe they will advance to semifinals. But they'll have to work for it to defeat a 2-1 Quebec team that came within a one-goal loss to Alberta from winning the B pool.
"There aren't any easy games here, not at this level," said Dinwoodie. "(Tuesday) I thought we did everything right. We made a few mistakes but on the whole, with our game plan and the way we approached Ontario (we were fine). They're a talented team and we had their attention early. We could have had a lead in that game very easily and I liked our response in the third period when we got within one."
B.C. goalie Dorrin Luding, who also plays for the Cariboo Cougars, says he's enjoying playing at home in front of his friends and family and he's looking forward to seeing the stands packed for tonight's playoff game.
"It's great to see all the people from Prince George supporting us," said Luding. "It just feels great to be here. It helps me a lot and makes me more comfortable with the surroundings and everything outside the rink."
Luding played the first two periods of Tuesday's loss to Manitoba but Jordan Hollett has carried the bulk of the load in the B.C. net, drawing two starts. Dinwoodie wasn't revealing who he will start tonight against Quebec.
