Weekend recap October 25th & 26th

The Langley Rivermen traveled to Vancouver Island this past weekend, taking on the Alberni Valley Bulldogs on Friday, and Saturday in Victoria against the Grizzlies.

Langley was outshot by 6 in the first period in Port Alberni on Friday, but certainly had their fair share of chances including a shorthanded breakaway for Ryan Schelling that was turned aside by Bulldogs goaltender Colin Winn.

The Bulldogs drew first blood in the second period, as Lenny Greenberg converted a rebound in tight on Rivermen goaltender Bodee Weiss, making it 1-0 for the hosts.

1:30 later, Ilya Rogovsky scored his first goal as a Rivermen in style, as he took a pass from Schelling between his legs, skated down the right wing and rifled a shot over the glove side of Winn to tie the game.

Exactly three minutes later, Bulldogs leading scorer Grayson Badger took a pass from behind the Rivermen net and gave the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead.

With 28 seconds to go in the second period, the Bulldogs would add to their lead on a point shot that found its way into the Rivermen net making it 3-1 Alberni Valley.

Langley came out firing in the third period, outshooting Alberni Valley 14-5, but it took until there was 2:06 on the clock when the Bulldogs lead was cut in half as Rogovsky got his second of the game on a slot shot that went top corner.

The visitors kept the puck in the offensive zone in the dying stages of the third, but Winn ensured his team would close out the first meeting of the season between the two squads 3-2.

Saturday’s game was back and forth from the outset, but it was the hosts who found the first goal of the game off a rebound with 7:47 gone in the opening period.

Langley would have a pair of chances after the Grizzlies opener, but Tyler Hodges turned aside all 12 Rivermen shots in the first period.

Victoria would double their lead with 4:49 to go in the second period on a 2-on-1 opportunity.

The Rivermen cut the Grizzlies lead in half in the second period, as Jack Bakker broke in all alone on Hodges and sniped home his second of the season to cut the Victoria lead to one going into the third period.

With time winding down in the third, Tyler Chan tipped in a Gabriel Guilbault point shot from the blue line for his second of the season, tying the game 2-2 and sending it to overtime.

After some back and forth play in the early stages of overtime, Ilya Rogovsky took over for Langley. The newest Rivermen collected the puck from his own zone, skated up the right wing into the Grizzlies zone, dangled Victoria’s top defenceman Drew Hockley and his backhand shot found the top corner giving Langley a spectacular overtime winner to split the weekend on the Island.