SANDRA M STANWAY
Brooks Bulletin
With just four games remaining in the BCHL hockey schedule and four points separating the first place Penticton Vees and the second place Brooks Bandits, the regular season is winding down and fans are days away from adding the teams to the playoff schedule.
In the preliminary round in both the western and eastern conference, first place will play eighth place, second will play seventh, third will play sixth and fourth and fifth will play.
If the playoff started today, the Bandits would face Surrey.
Progression of the playoffs will lead to the final game, the Fred Page Cup Championship likely to be held in May or even June.
Since the beginning of the month Penticton has won all four of their matches for eight points while the Bandits, who are four points behind, earned six points for three wins. They also had a couple of losses.
Over the weekend the Bandits won both of their home games, on Friday they defeated Okotoks Oilers 6-4.
On Saturday the Bandits defeated the Trail Smoke Eaters 1-0. The Smoke Eaters had defeated the Bandits 4-1 on March 7.
The weekend games saw Parker Lalonde continue with his point streak having scored at least one goal in eight consecutive games.
On Friday he scored on the empty net against the Oilers and got the Bandits lone goal on Saturday.
Lalonde has 59 points on the season with 32 goals and 27 assists and is in second place in points for the Bandits and 11th overall in the league.
Nathan Free, who has 30 goals and 37 assists for 62 points, is seventh place in the league. Jeremy Loranger of the Sherwood Park Crusaders has top spot with 94 points, 37 goals and 57 assists.
The final four games for the Bandits begin on March 21 when they host top scorer Loranger and his sixth place Crusaders team.
On March 22 they will travel to BC to play the eighth place Cranbrook Bucks, on March 28 is the final regular season home game when they will play the 18th place Spruce Grove Saints.
The final regular season game will be in Okotoks on March 29 to play the 16th place team.
The Vees will finish their final games at home also on March 29.
