Township of Langley, BC (Friday, October 2, 2015) –The Langley Rivermen knocked off the Chilliwack Chiefs 6-4 on Friday night at the Langley Events Centre. The meeting was the first of seven on the season between the two Mainland Division rivals.
Justin Szeto scored the opening goal of the game at the 4:42 mark of the first period. It was a great individual effort for the Harvard commit, who burst down the right-wing in the Chilliwack zone and put away his third goal of the season through the pads of Matteo Esposito. Less than a minute later, Matthew Graham made it a 2-0 game. Graham was able to get open in the Chiefs zone and buried a one-time shot past Esposito on a pass from Trevor Ayre. For Graham, it was his third goal of the season and team leading seventh point. At 9:05 of the frame, the Chiefs got on the board courtesy of a Ryan Roseboom shot near the crease of Nick Trenciansky. The Rivermen restored their two-goal lead at the 14:29 mark on Zac Masson’s second goal of the year. Trevor Ayre put a perfect pass on the tape of Masson, who drove hard to the net and tapped it into the back of the goal. Luke Voltin had the secondary assist on the play. The ‘Riv would take a 3-1 lead into the break and had the shot advantage 11-10.
In the second, the Chiefs scored the only two goals of the period to even up the game at 3-3. Dennis Cholowski scored his first of the season at 14:01 to put the Chiefs within a goal, as he finished off a pretty passing play off the rush. With under a minute left, Vimal Sukumaran went in all alone on a breakaway and made no mistake beating Trenciansky glove side for his eighth goal of the season.
The Rivermen would take over in the third period. Near the halfway point, Max Kaufman redirected home a John Schuldt point shot for his second goal of the season. Dominic Franco earned a much deserved secondary assist with his great fore-check that help set up the marker. During a Rivermen two-man advantage, Will Campion found a loose puck near the crease and slid in his third goal of the year to make it a 5-3 score. With the Chiefs goaltender pulled, Justin Szeto scored his second of the game into the empty net to put his team up by three. The Chiefs Mark Esposito would score the last goal of the game with 39 seconds left, which made it a 6-4 final in favour of the Rivermen.
Rivermen goaltender Nick Trenciansky stopped 25 of 29 shots on the night and earned his second win of the season. Matteo Esposito was charged with the loss allowing three goals on five shots. Aiden Pelino came in relief and stopped 19 of 22 shots.
With the victory, the ‘Men move to 4-2-0-0 on the season and are now tied for second place in the Mainland Division
The Rivermen will host the Cowichan Valley Capitals on Sunday, October 4 at 3:00PM.
NOTES: Shots on Goal: LAN 28, CHI 29. Power play: LAN 1/4, CHI 1/4. Three Stars: 1st: LAN Justin Szeto, 2nd: LAN Trevor Ayre, 3rd: CHI Vimal Sukumaran.
