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Rollercoaster Weekend Ends On High Note

The Langley Rivermen wrapped up a 3 game home stand on Sunday which saw them play 3 games in 4 nights. Although all 3 games didn’t go as planned, the Riv bounced back and showed good character in all 3 matches over the weekend.

Surrey saw themselves out to a 4-1 lead after the first period. The Riv did what they could to close the gap but mistakes cost them and no deficit in the league is easy to come back from and they would drop this one 5-4.

Saturday the hot Smoke Eaters were in town from Trail, again the Riv not getting the start they wanted down 2-0, but they clawed back to make it a game and would eventually fall 5-2.

Sunday we welcomed the Chiefs, got off to a good start exchanged chances early and would make them pay on a 5 minute power play where we would score 3 goals. Yes, this Riv power play erupted. The boys would hang on for a 5-2 victory.

We caught up with Assistant Coach Stefano Ruscitti to get his thoughts on the week that was;

We weren’t happy with our start against Surrey, and that goes as far back as our warm up, it was sloppy and the guys weren’t ready to play. We got the start we wanted in the first 5 minutes but its a 60 minute game, we finished strong and payed the price for not being prepared for the middle frame of the game. Saturday against Trail was the opposite, we didn’t get the start we wanted on the score board despite outshooting them 14-6, and we didn’t get the finish either, but that night the middle part of the game was great, we managed to make it a game and had 3 goals called back. All in all we battled we just didn’t get the result but it was fine we had another crack at it on Sunday. Sunday was a game of inches until Jake Livingstone caught a high hit to the head which gave us a 5 minute power play and we opened the game up scoring 3 times . A 3-1 lead after 2 is dangerous, but its a test for our guys and they responded. Even at 3-2 our guys really picked it up. Hemmed in our own zone for over 2 minutes and Crookshank feeds Budy for a breakaway where he got his second of the game. All in all our guys learned from their mistakes in the previous 2 games and combined a beginning middle and end to the game and we got the result we wanted.

The Riv are back in action on Friday to take on the Surrey Eagle’s in Surrey at 7pm.