The North Island Eagles bantam rep hockey team clinched the top seed and home-ice advantage in the Vancouver Island Tier 3 hockey finals with an 8-3 drubbing of the Kerry Park Islanders Saturday in Port Hardy.
One day later in Port Hardy, the Eagles midgets suffered a much different fate, falling out of the playoffs with a 6-3 semifinal loss to the Juan de Fuca Grizzlies at Don Cruickshank Memorial Arena.
Curtis McCarrick had a hat trick and Cole Rennie scored two goals Saturday for the Eagles bantams, who are two wins away from the Island's berth in the Tier 3 Provincial Championships. The Eagles will kick off their best-of-three finals series with a trip to Victoria the weekend of Feb. 26-27, then return to the North Island the following week for the second and, if necessary, third game of the series.
The midgets, who swept the North Vancouver Island round-robin to earn Sunday's home date with Juan de Fuca, were bidding for a spot in the best-of-three Island finals. Juan de Fuca, the South No. 2 seed, will advance to face either Saanich or Kerry Park in the finals.
Eric Kennelly scored two goals in the loss.
Additional details and photos will appear in Thursday's print edition of the Gazette.