Monday, December 23, 2013 - Submitted by KP Wee MidgetAAACanada.com BCMML/National Correspondent
BCMML Week 14 Recap – Saturday Games
(Planet Ice – Coquitlam, BC) – Matthew Davis scored two goals and two assists, and Adam Derochie made 29 saves, as the Vancouver North East Chiefs defeated the visiting North Island Silvertips by a score of 5-2 in BC Major Midget League action at the Planet Ice rink on Saturday night.
Davis scored his first goal of the game 10:04 into the first period, his ninth of the season, to even the score at 1-1. He then added his 10th goal of the year with 3:53 remaining in the first, putting the Chiefs ahead to stay. Just 43 seconds later, Davis assisted on Lucian Serban’s sixth goal of the year to give Vancouver North East a commanding 3-1 lead.
Aided by a flurry of power plays throughout the game including a 5-on-3 advantage late in the first period, the Silvertips (9-12-4) had plenty of scoring opportunities but were thwarted by the spectacular goaltending of Derochie.
“We had some chances early on in the first period,” said Silvertips coach Jason Dubyna, “[but] I don’t think we had the bounces that we would have hoped for. I thought we did a good job in the penalty kill early on. The second half we started to get tired. But I think overall, it was a strong effort for our guys but we just couldn’t get our offense going that we would like to have.”
North Island’s Hunter Findlater scored early in the first period on a short-handed breakaway to open the scoring, but Derochie didn’t give up another goal until Carter Turnbull’s power-play goal with only 2:27 remaining in the game.
Silvertips goalie John Hawthorne was also busy, finishing with 30 saves including a stop on a penalty shot by Parker Colley six minutes into the second period to keep the score 3-1.
The Chiefs (12-9-4), however, would not be denied as they put the game away on a power-play goal by Brodie Crawford at 8:27 of the second period. Colley then iced the game with his third goal of the season, the Chiefs’ third power-play goal of the contest, with 3:05 remaining.
“I think they had two or three power-play goals so that obviously hurt us,” noted Hawthorne afterward. “Obviously I could have been better in some situations, but we really just need to stick to our game plan [and] we got to stay out of the penalty box.”
“We worked hard, got pucks deep, capitalized on our opportunities, [and] stopped them pretty good,” Vancouver North East defenseman Austin Campeau said in summarizing the Chiefs’ efforts.
With the victory, the Chiefs remained one point ahead of the Greater Vancouver Canadians for fourth place in the BCMML standings. The Canadians also won on Saturday night, 6-4 over the second-place Vancouver North West Giants.
In the Canadians-Giants tilt at the Richmond Oval, Josh Murphy and Owen Seidel each had two goals to lead Greater Vancouver to the victory. Dante Hannoun added four assists for the Canadians. Colton Kerfoot, meanwhile, had a hat trick in a losing effort for the Giants.
At the Capital News Centre in Kelowna, the league-leading Okanagan Rockets scored five times in the first period and went on to route the Thompson Blazers 9-2, with Tanner Campbell notching two goals and two assists. Captain Branden Wagner and Liam Finlay also each had two goals for the Rockets (21-3-1).
According to the Rockets’ official website, Okanagan outshot Thompson 49-19 and Rockets goaltender Reid Kilburn picked up his 14th win of the season. The victory was also the Rockets’ 14th straight at home.
Dexter Robinson and Nii Noi Tetteh each had a goal and an assist for Thompson.
At the ARC in Abbotsford, Steven Jandric scored twice as the visiting Cariboo Cougars blanked the Fraser Valley Thunderbirds 7-0. According to the Cougars’ official website, Jeremy Matte made 20 saves to earn the shutout. Jesse Roach added a goal and two assists for the Cougars (10-13-2), who moved three points ahead of the eighth-place Thunderbirds (8-14-3) in the standings.
At the Langley Events Centre, Valley West doubled the South Island Royals 8-4, with Matt Bradley scoring twice for the Hawks.
The two teams battled to a 4-4 tie late in the second, before Mitch Newsome put the Hawks ahead to say with just 1:12 remaining in the period. Valley West then scored three more times in the final 20 minutes to put the game out of reach.
