The North Island Eagles midget and peewee teams will open the 2012 Vancouver Island Tier 3 playoffs with home games this Saturday, while the Eagles bantams open the playoffs on the road.
Both of this week’s games will be played at Port McNeill’s Chilton Regional Arena.
The Eagles peewees host Kerry Park at 2 p.m., followed by the midgets against Juan de Fuca at 4:15 p.m.
The bantams travel to Campbell River this week, then return for a home playoff game against Powell River next Saturday at 1:15 p.m. in Port Hardy.
Each of the squads is part of a three-team, Vancouver Island-North round-robin series that will determine the two North Division qualifiers into the Island semifinals. The winner of each series will claim the No. 1 seed and host the South’s No. 2 in the semifinals later this month. The runner-up claims the No. 2 seed and will travel to play the South’s top qualifier.
The eventual winners will square off in a three-game series to determine the Island’s representative to the Tier 3 provincial championships.
After opening here against Juan de Fuca, the midgets will travel to Kerry Park for a 4:50 p.m. game next Saturday. The following day, Kerry Park and Juan de Fuca meet to wrap up the series.
The Eagles bantams travel to Campbell River Saturday for a 6:15 p.m. game against the Tyees before returning next week to host Powell River. Campbell River and Powell River will wrap up the series next Sunday.
After opening here Saturday, the Eagles peewees travel to Powell River to close out the North Division series with a 2:15 p.m. game next Saturday. Powell River and Kerry Park opened the round-robin last weekend.
Atoms to tourney
The North Island Eagles atom development program takes a break from league play this weekend to compete in the Campbell River Tyees tournament. The atoms wrap up regular-season league play the following Saturday, Feb. 11, with a 3 p.m. contest against Cowichan Valley in Port McNeill.