The Cariboo Cougars are off to Round 2 of the BC Elite Hockey League 18-U playoffs.
They will face the Vancouver Northeast Chiefs in a best-of-three semifinal series that starts Friday in Burnaby.
Kenyon McIsaac made that possible when he scored a power-play goal 4:05 into overtime, combining with linemates Grady Gustafson and Rylan Bissett for the goal that gave the Cougars a 4-3 win that eliminated the Vancouver Northwest Hawks in two straight in the best-of-three series at Kin 1.
Mason Loewen connected on another Cariboo power play with 1:05 left in the third period to force overtime.
Second-period goals from McIsaac and Josh Gendron wiped out the Hawks’ lead, until Michael Konechny cashed in a Vancouver power-play chance to put the visitors ahead with 5:25 left in the third.
The Cougars outshot the Hawks 60-29. Jaxson Dikur picked up the win in the Cariboo nets.
Lucas Davidson and Ben Walker were the other Hawks goalscorers.
Cariboo won Friday’s opener 8-4.
This weekend’s Cougars-Chiefs winner will face either Fraser Valley Thunderbirds or Okanagan Rickets in the league championship.
Meanwhile, in the female triple-A division, there was no happy ending for the Northern Capitals. The Prince George-based Caps hosted Vancouver Island Seals at Kin 2 in a best-of-three quarterfinal that ended Saturday with the Seals sweeping the series with a 2-1 victory.
All of the scoring happened in the third period. Sarah Prestmo gave the Capitals the lead seven minutes in but Samantha Wood and McKay Whalen answered for the Seals. Whalen’s gamewinner of goalie Payton Planetta came with 2:35 left.
The Seals took Game 1 on Friday 3-1.
The Seals will advance to the semifinals this weekend against the top-ranked Fraser Valley Rush. The Thompson Okanagan Lakers host the Greater Vancouver Comets in the other semifinal this weekend in Kelowna.
