The Wenatchee Wild left no doubt which was the better team in the B.C. Hockey League Interior Conference championship series.
They walloped the Trail Smoke Eaters 6-1 Friday night in Wenatchee, Wash., to win the best-of-seven series 4-1.
Jasper Weatherby scored two goals and had two assists, staking Wenatchee to its first berth in the BCHL championship series.
The Wild will take on the Coastal Conference-champion Prince George Spruce Kings in the best-of-seven final series which starts Friday in Wenatchee.
Five of the seven goals Friday happened in the second period. Weatherby, the BCHL scoring champion this season, collected his 12th goal of the playoffs to open the scoring, 2:25 into the second, and his second of the game late in the period made it a 4-1 count. The 20-year-old University of North Dakota recruit set up AJ Vanderbeck in the third period and also drew an assist on August Von Ungern's goal late in the game which capped the scoring. Weatherby now leads all playoff scorers with 15 goals and 29 points in 15 games.
Cooper Zech and Lucas Sowder also scored for Wenatchee. Blaine Caton was the lone Smokie to beat Wild goalie Austin Park, who made 20 saves as the Wild outshot the Smoke Eaters 41-21.
Wenatchee, now in its third BCHL season, started this year's playoffs with a four-game sweep of the Merritt Centennials, then defeated the Vernon Vipers 4-2 in the second round.
The Wild (37-16-4-1) finished third in the Interior Division regular-season standings, five points better than the Spruce Kings (33-17-4-4), who placed first in the Mainland Division. That gives the Wild home-ice advantage to start the final.
