Friday, September 29th in Merritt:
The Langley Rivermen ran into a hot goaltender in Tyler Steel on Friday night, in what turned out to be a 2-1 loss to the Merritt Centennials. It was fast and physical throughout the entire game in the first meeting of the season between the teams and lots of shots were fired towards both goaltenders. James Barr faced 38 shots, while Steel saw 42 in a contest where they stole the show.
The first few minutes of the first period was mostly controlled by the Cents and could have been up a few goals if it wasn’t for James Barr. The Surrey native stopped a trio of grade “A” scoring opportunities to keep the goose egg in tact. Meanwhile at the other end Tyler Steel was just getting his night started by stopping back to back breakaways on Evan Campbell and Mario Puskarich in a span of three minutes. Both puck stoppers were the story in the first 20 minutes facing 15 shots a piece and not allowing any in.
The deadlock was finally broken in the second period as the Centennials opened up the scoring early on. On a Merritt power play, the Cents caught the Rivermen on a line change and Brandon Bruce capitalized on a redirection in front of Barr off the rush down the right wing. Merritt added to their lead just after the six minute mark on a great wrist shot from Derek Huisman that beat Barr over the glove on the short side. Langley kept throwing everything at the net, but still could not solve Steel as he stopped all 29 shots he saw after two periods of play.
The third period was a lot less frantic until the dying minutes. With less than two to play, the Cents took a penalty which allowed Langley to pull their goaltender for the extra attacker making it a two man advantage. Evan Campbell would spoil the shut out burying a shot past Steel with just 47 seconds remaining on a bang-bang play from behind the net. Trevor Cope made a fantastic pass from behind the goal to a wide open Campbell who scored his second goal in as many games. Unfortunately for the ‘Men they could not tie it up and took the defeat.
In the end, Steel proved to be too much as he received first star honours and rightfully so only allowing the one goal very late. The game was also a matter of which team scored the most on their opportunities and on this particular night it was the Merritt Centennials.
Saturday, September 30th @ Salmon Arm
The Langley Rivermen were able to close out the interior road trip in style in Salmon Arm with a thrilling 3-2 double overtime win. The Rivermen played from behind for most of regulation and were able to claw their way back to tie it late in the third period before finishing off the Silverbacks in one of the most thrilling overtime games you may ever see. It was the first meeting of the season between the two clubs and was the most entertaining game to date. For the second straight game, both goaltenders stole the show.
The first couple of minutes of the game was a bit of a feeling out process, but halfway through the period the pace began to pick up. The ‘Backs opened up the scoring on a shorthanded goal from Jason Trott. The Salmon Arm forward picked up a loose puck in the Langley zone off a turnover and fired a shot past James Barr for his first of the season. The Silverbacks would take a 1-0 lead into the break and they could thank the strong goaltending of Colin Dzijacky who stopped every shot he faced.
The second period had a little bit of everything from goals, hits, great saves, and fights. During a Logan Smith and Jason Trott scrap, Mitch McLain decided to drop the mitts with Brendan Kennedy. As per BCHL rules if another fight begins when another tilt is going on, those two players receive automatic game misconduct’s. After the referee sorted out all the penalties, the Rivermen finally got on the board. Trevor Cope tied up the game near the halfway point of the period on a fluke play in front of the net. Cope took a shot off his stomach from Aaron Dolby that found it’s way into the back of the net which continued Cope’s point streak to six games. However, a few minutes later the ‘Backs would get the lead back on a power play tally from Evan Schwalbe on a scramble in front of Barr.
The third period went back and forth with both teams trading chances for the most part. The Silverbacks then did a great job of clinging on to their 2-1 lead for the first ten minutes, but then got into penalty trouble. In the late stages of regulation, the Rivermen went on the power play and pulled the goalie to make it a two-man advantage. With under a minute to go, Bo Pellah found Jakob Reichert on the left-wing who then made a power move on the backhand and lifted a shot top corner past Dzijacky. It was a massive goal to say the least as Reichert scored his much-anticipated first of the year in a situation where his team needed it the most. Overtime was needed and my goodness, did the teams give the fans what they paid to see. The ‘Men had a few scoring opportunities in four on four, but could not slip one past Dzijacky. The ‘Backs did not have many good scoring chances, but when called upon Barr made the stops. Three on three was needed and it was an overtime for the ages. Colin Dzijacky stood on his head making highlight reel save after save, which really had the home crowd going. James Barr then made the save of the season on a Silverback two on one. Sean Flanagan took a great pass in tight but was absolutely robbed by Barr on as he stretched across to his left in desperation and made a great glove save to keep overtime going. A shift later, Evan Campbell found Mario Puskarich behind the defense at centre ice and went in and made no mistake firing a blistering wrist shot blocker side with 58 seconds left. A fantastic finish to an unforgettable game. In the end, Langley fired 46 shots towards Dzijacky, while Salmon arm put 32 pucks on Barr.
Langley was able to come away with two out of the four points on the road trip and will play back at home next weekend when PG comes to town on Saturday and Sunday.
