BCEHL PLAYOFF UPDATE - MARCH 6-8
For Immediate Release
March 4, 2026
Saanichton, B.C. - The BCEHL Playoffs will officially be underway for all leagues this weekend with the Female U18 and U18 leagues joining the fray. The U17 league will start their semifinal round after an action packed first round, and the U15 league had an outstanding playoff tournament last weekend and crowned their champion. So much is happening. Here we go!
Female U18 AAA
The Female U18 playoffs begin this weekend when the fourth-seeded Northern Capitals meet the fifth-seeded Vancouver Island Seals in a best-of-three play-in series in Prince George. The Seals and Capitals met seven times during the regular season where the Capitals held a dominant record of 6-0-0-1. The Seals lone win came via the shootout in the second week of the regular season. The Capitals are led offensively by Paxton Fraser who garnered 31 points (18g-13a) in 32 games this year. The Seals will be looking for a big weekend from netminder Nyah Brown who comes into the series with a 3.87 goals against average.
The best-of-three series is scheduled for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (if necessary).
The top three teams join the post season party on March 13 along with the winner of the Capitals/Seals series.
For the full and detailed Female U18 schedule click HERE.
U18 AAA
The U18 playoffs kickoff with three first round matchups this weekend. The top-seeded Vancouver North East Chiefs receive a bye into the second round, which begins a week Friday.
The spotlighted series sees the fifth-seeded Vancouver North West Hawks take Highway 5 to Kamloops to meet the fourth-seeded Thompson Blazers. The Blazers finished a mere two points ahead of the Hawks during the regular season, which secured them home ice advantage for this opening round series. The Blazers earned their positioning as they finished the five game season series versus the Hawks with a 4-1-0-0 record (two of the wins came courtesy of the shootout). The Hawks will look to Maxim Malinousky, who finished fourth in regular season scoring with 50 points (16g-34a) in 32 games played to lead the way offensively. The Blazers' goaltender combo of Jasper Wood and Blake Mumford will be the last line of defence to try and thwart Malinousky and company, and punch the Blazers' ticket to the second round.
All series are a best-of-three with games going Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (if necessary).
Other first round series:
(7) Fraser Valley Thunderbirds vs (2) Okanagan Rockets
(6) Valley West Giants vs. (3) Cariboo Cougars
For the full and detailed U18 schedule click HERE.
U17 AAA
The first round of the U17 playoffs saw a couple of upsets, while two of the four series went the full three games. The fifth-seeded Thompson Blazers went to Kelowna and swept the Okanagan Rockets for the first upset of the weekend. The second upset saw the sixth-seeded Valley West Giants get past the third-seeded Cariboo Cougars in three games. The top-seeded Vancouver North West Hawks swept the eighth-seeded Greater Vancouver Canadians, while the second-seeded Vancouver North East Chiefs needed all three games to dispatch of the seventh-seeded Fraser Valley Thunderbirds.
The marquee match-up in the semi-final round sees the Hawks take on the Giants in the best-of-three match-up. The teams met five times with Valley West coming away with a record of 3-2-0-0 and the Hawks earning a 2-1-2-0 record. The season series was extremely competitive and this weekend’s matchup looks to continue that trend. The Hawks are led by the dynamic duo of Charles Payne (19g+29a=48 points in 35 games) and William Morantz (23g+23a=46 points in 35 games) who finished in the top two spots in league scoring respectively. The Giants will look to netminders Luc Wilson-Kurenoff and Liam Lam. Wilson-Kurenoff earned both wins in last weekend’s first round series which included a Game 3 shutout.
All series are a best-of-three with games going Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (if necessary).
Other semifinal series:
(5) Thompson Blazers vs. (2) Vancouver North East Chiefs
For the full and detailed U17 schedule click HERE.
U15 AAA
It seemed inevitable, as the U15 league headed into their annual playoff tournament in Langley last weekend, that the top-seeded Okanagan Rockets and the second-seeded Fraser Valley Thunderbirds were on a collision course. They were the top two teams all season long, and both went undefeated through the tournament that led to a winner take all one-game championship last Sunday morning.
The two teams met five times during the regular season with almost every game being tightly contested, Fraser Valley finished the season series versus Okanagan with a 2-2-0-1 record, which included collecting three out of a possible four points in the two game series that concluded the regular season.
The Rockets were ready for the championship game though. As the team from the Interior jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period, and just kept their foot on the pedal from that point forward. Rockets' forward Nathan Steele notched a hat trick for Okanagan as his squad cruised to a 7-2 victory. The Rockets have now won back-to-back championships in the U15 league. They are the first organization to do so in the five seasons the league has been in existence.
To stay up to date on everything going on in the BCEHL visit the website to view schedules, standings, stats, and scores: BCEHL.net, follow @BCEHL on X, @BCEHL_AAA on Instagram, and join the conversation by using #BCEHLAAAHOCKEY
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