The Merritt Centennials? Possibly.
The Salmon Arm Silverbacks? Could be.
The Coquitlam Express? Maybe.
The Vernon Vipers will play their final two BC Hockey League regular season games at home this weekend, and it likely won’t be known until after the regular season ends Sunday who they’ll face in the first round of the playoffs starting March 2 at Kal Tire Place.
The Vipers entertain the Wenatchee Wild Friday (7 p.m.) and the Trail Smoke Eaters Saturday (6 p.m.). As of Wednesday, the Snakes were in second place in the Interior Division, two points behind the Penticton Vees, who have a game in hand, and two points ahead of the third-place Wild, who also have three games left.
Should the Vipers finish second, they would play the Interior’s seventh-place team (the fifth place team in the Mainland Division, the Express, cross over to become the Interior’s eighth seed and will meet the division champion in the opening round). If they finish first, they’ll play Coquitlam. If Vernon places third, they’ll play the sixth-place team.
If the playoffs started today, Vernon would play Merritt. The Centennials, who have four games left, are tied with the Silverbacks, who have the task of finishing the season with five games in five nights. A game in Merritt was added for Thursday after it was canceled last weekend due to weather. Salmon Arm has one more win than Merritt.
Both Salmon Arm and Merritt are six points back of the fifth-place West Kelowna Warriors, who have three games left.
The Smoke Eaters will finish fourth and play the fifth-place team in the opening round.
The Vipers, 8-2 in their last 10 games, took two of three on a three-game weekend road swing.
After falling 2-1 on the Sunshine Coast to the Powell River Kings Friday, the Vipers hopped aboard a B.C. Ferry over to Vancouver Island, where they blanked the Cowichan Valley Capitals – the only team out of 17 in the league to miss the playoffs – 4-0, and finished the trip Sunday with a 4-1 victory in Port Alberni over the Alberni Valley Bulldogs.
Vernon jumped out to a 3-0 lead Sunday on first period goals from Jesse Lansdell, shorthanded, Jimmy Lambert and Michael Young. Brett Stapley added an empty netter. Anthony Yamnitsky made 26 saves for the win, following up his 24-save performance in Duncan Saturday for his third shutout of the year.
Young, Derek Brown, Lambert and Josh Latta scored for Vernon, who peppered Capitals goalie Michael Corson with 40 shots.
Tickets for the playoffs will go on sale at the Viper office beginning on Monday at 10 a.m.
Season ticket holders will have until noon on game day to pick up their seats or they will be released for general sale. Adult tickets for round one will be $17 while seniors will be $15.
All children and students tickets in round one will be free with Hytec, Beach Radio and The Vernon Morning Star teaming up to make that happen.
There is no purchase necessary, however each child or student will require a game ticket to be admitted.