Mariners Advance to Junior Hockey Semifinals, 5-3

The Ventura Mariners, scoring swiftly and frequently, advanced to today’s semifinals of the Junior Hockey National B Championships as the top-seeded team by beating the Minnesota Metro Owls, 5-3, at the Bridgewater Sports Arena on Friday in Bridgewater N.J.

Ventura (39-15-1) finished 3-0 in pool play, tying the defending champion Minnesota Kodiaks.

The Mariners earned the No. 1 seeding by outscoring the Kodiaks, 17-16.

Ventura, champion of the Western States Hockey League, jumped out to a 5-0 lead, 3-0 in the first period against the Metro Owls (0-3 in the tournament).

Center Paul Goff scored first on a shot from the slot and Kimu Mau’u made it 2-0 on a power-play goal 52 seconds later. Also scoring for Ventura were Matt Szymanski, Stewart Pearce and Jerome Randklev.