Fred Harbinson's been here before.
The legendary BCHL coach with 734 career regular-season wins under his belt is again leading the Penticton Vees into the Interior Conference finals.
But even Harbinson 鈥� who's led Penticton to six Fred Page Cup titles since taking over behind the bench for Bruno Campese in 2007 鈥� admits this year's playoff run feels a little different.
It's hard to blame him, as the end of his storied BCHL journey nears and WHL expansion looms.
"For me, I've been in the league 18 years and it's your last kick at the can at getting to the final one last time," Harbinson said, referring to the Vees joining the WHL ahead of the 2025-26 campaign.
The Vees, who own an 8-0 postseason record after sweeping Okotoks and Cranbrook in succession, will clash with the Brooks Bandits in Round 3 starting on May 2.
It marks a battle of the BCHL's best after Penticton and Brooks finished with the league's No. 1 and 2 regular-season records, respectively.
The teams met four times in 2024-25, with each club picking up two wins.
"These are the two team best teams in the league battling it out," said Harbinson, who also serves as the club's general manager and president. "Unfortunately, it's the conference final and should be the finals, but that's the way it is."
Although this marks Brooks' first season in the BCHL after it left the Alberta Junior Hockey League in 2024, the club has already managed to establish a well-documented rivalry with Penticton over the last decade-and-a-half.
As two of Western Canada's most decorated junior hockey programs, the Bandits and Vees have met in multiple inter-provincial championship games, including the 2012 Doyle Cup.
Those memories of meeting Brooks on the national Junior A stage still stick with Harbinson today, as he gears up to move on and lead Penticton's first WHL franchise next season.
"It's the last time we'll play each other," Harbinson said of the upcoming seven-game, third-round series. "We're closing this chapter and getting ready for the next."
Penticton boasted a 41-8-5-0 record during the regular season, collecting three more points than Brooks.
Like the Vees, the Bandits have won eight playoff games in a row entering the Interior Conference finals.
Penticton is led offensively this postseason by forward Max Heise, who has 13 points. The Vees' Simon Meier and Luke Posthumus, meanwhile, have each scored six goals in eight playoff games.
Games 1 and 2 go on Friday and Saturday at the South Okanagan Events Centre, before the series shifts to Alberta next week.
"I think we're playing our best hockey right now," the Vees head coach said. "They're going to do their homework on us and we're going to do it on them."
