The Langley Rivermen continued their lower mainland trip this past weekend as they traveled to Coquitlam Friday to take on the Express for their teddy bear toss game, and Sunday went out to South Surrey to take on the Eagles.
Coquitlam came out flying in the opening period in the sixth meeting of the season between the two teams, and had a pair of looks early on but the teddy bears would stay firmly in the stands thanks to some stellar goaltending by the Rivermen’s Mason Beaupit.
Luke Ashton would open the scoring on a beautiful shot from the left point for his 9th of the season to give the Riv the 1-0 lead with 9:14 to go in the first period.
After more pressure Vitaly Levyy would capitalize in tight on Express goaltender Adam Manji for his 12th of the season giving his team a 2-0 lead and going into the second period feeling good, also outshooting their opposition 15-6.
The visitors would kill off a Coquitlam power play early in the second period, however shortly following it would be Kasper Walther-Sneve who sniped a shot from the left wing bringing the teddy bears down to the ice 2:13 into the second period.
Langley would hit a post through Oskar Komarov, and a half break chance through Aaron Reierson but Manji stood tall in the Coquitlam goal to ensure it would remain 2-1 Rivermen going into the third period.
Reierson would extend the Rivermen’s lead 2:42 into the third on a tidy odd man rush from the visitors. However, Coquitlam would score two unanswered goals with six minutes to go, tying it up 3-3 and taking the game into overtime.
Midway through the extra frame, Jake Manfre would beat Mason Beaupit to win the game for Coquitlam 4-3 despite a solid effort the entire game from the Rivermen.
“I thought we battled hard both games, and did well to get the lead on Friday in Coquitlam, also on Sunday battling back when we were in a hole” said Rivermen head coach and general manager Burt Henderson post game.
Sunday’s game in South Surrey started strongly for the home side, as the Eagles would score 2:11 into the first period and would double their lead 9 minutes later to take a 2-0 lead into the second period.
Early on in the second period Surrey would take a 3-0 lead, however the Rivermen would respond strongly playing some of their best second period hockey this season. Lincoln Hjelm scored his second of the season midway through the second period. Nine minutes later it was Ethan Reisterer who would snipe against his former team with 51 seconds to go in the middle frame and it would be a 3-2 Eagles lead going into the third period, but again Langley was not going away without a fight.
The Rivermen fired 10 shots at the Surrey goal in the third period, hit a post, and had a glorious look in the last 15 seconds that was saved by Eagles goaltender Ajeet Gundarah to ensure the home team would come away 3-2 victors.
Friday, December 15th is Goalie night as the Rivermen take on the Nanaimo Clippers for the first time this season, and Saturday, December 16th is Teddy Bear Toss night against the Powell River Kings.
“We are excited to finish off the first half of the season this weekend at home in front of the fans, we have had upwards of 9 sellouts and it has been great to see their support, especially for two exciting theme nights,” said Henderson.
Written by Gideon Hill
