The Langley Rivermen played a pair of games this past weekend. Friday they took their final trip of the season to the South Surrey Arena to take on the Eagles, and Sunday they hosted the Cranbrook Bucks in just their third ever meeting between the two teams.
Friday’s game started with some excellent pressure from the visitors, but it was the home team who scored first on a power play, taking a 1-0 lead into the second period.
Surrey would double their lead early in the second period on a quick deflection in front, putting the Rivermen behind 2-0. However, a great shift by the Rivermen’s fourth line allowed Morgan Brady to wrap a puck around past Eagles’ goaltender Ajeet Gundarah, Brady’s second goal of the season.
Langley would get multiple chances to tie it up to end the second period, but like last Saturday’s game, Gundarah would stand tall, and the Rivermen would head into the third period trailing 2-1.
Surrey would add on a third into the empty net, taking their 6th meeting of the season 3-1, as the Rivermen dropped their third in a row.
Langley started the game strongly on Sunday, scoring 26 seconds in on the 8th of the season from Oskar Komarov on a great end to end play.
The Bucks would get a pair of power plays after the Rivermen opener, but Mason Beaupit would stand tall in the home goal, stopping all 15 shots he faced in the opening frame, keeping it 1-0 going into the second period.
The Rivermen continued their strong play from the first period into the second, but Bucks goaltender Braedyn McIntosh stood strong in goal for the visitors keeping it 1-0 for Langley. Late on in the second period, Blake Cotton sniped a puck from the slot to tie it 1-1 going into the third.
Tuukka Heiskanen scored his first goal as a Rivermen 3:18 into the third period as he beautifully tucked the puck past the left pad of McIntosh, making it 2-1 Riv early on. 3:16 later, it was Cranbrook who tied the game on a 2 on 1 rebound in close past Beaupit. There was some close chances for both teams to end the third period but the game would go to overtime.
Carsten Kayter won the game with 3:08 to go in the extra frame on the power play, his first in the BCHL, with a rocket of a shot.
The Rivermen are on the road in Trail on Friday, and then don’t return home until Friday, January 26th due to the BCHL All Star weekend. The Surrey Eagles are in town that night as Langley begins a five game home stand.
Written by Gideon Hill
