Kamloops Storm in tough against Revelstoke as KIJHL Playoffs begin

“If we made it out of the first round, we’d have to deal with Revelstoke anyways,” Sangha told CFJC Today. “I feel like it was inevitable, and we just move on and go day by day.”

Sangha knows his team enters this best-of-seven series as the heavy underdogs. In 49 regular season games, the Grizzlies won 42, including all six against the Storm, while outscoring the Kamloops club 30-7 in those six match-ups.

“They have four solid lines, and they have six solid D, and their goaltending’s good too,” Sangha said. “The good thing for us is we don’t have to key on anyone, we’re just taking it line-by-line, and the approach is similar for our guys too.”

The Grizzlies finished the year with a quartet of players with 50 or more points, and 11 who scored over 30, while the Storm had two players tally 30 or more points – Theran Kinross (47) and Chris Thon (3)5 – meaning Storm goaltender Ethan Paulin-Hatch might be the most essential player for Kamloops in this series, as he’ll likely be under fire from the opening face-off. On paper, the odds stack up in favour of Revelstoke, but on the ice, the Storm know that anything can happen in a best-of-seven playoff series.

“Our main goal for tonight is to go in there and show we can compete with them,” Sangha said. “That would be a great thing for our team… to say we can compete with them. Then what’s the next step? We take a period, then maybe win two periods, then win a game. We’ve got to find that level where our boys are comfortable competing with the group because we can.”

Games one and two go tonight and Wednesday in Revelstoke, before Games 3 and 4 in Kamloops at Memorial Arena Friday and Saturday nights.

by Adam Donnelly

Kamloops Storm in tough against Revelstoke as KIJHL Playoffs begin

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