Tuesday, December 24, 2013 - Submitted by KP Wee MidgetAAACanada.com BCMML/National Correspondent
BCMML Week 14 Recaps – Sunday Games
(Langley Events Centre – Langley, BC) – Davis Koch, Ty Westgard, and Matt Bradley each scored power-play goals in the first period, as the Valley West Hawks recorded a 5-2 victory and a weekend series sweep over the visiting South Island Royals in BC Major Midget action at the Langley Events Centre on Sunday afternoon.
The Hawks dominated the opening 20 minutes, outshooting the Royals 16-4 as they took a 3-0 lead. Koch opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 11:08, Westgard made it 2-0 just 50 seconds later, and Bradley capped off the scoring in the period with another power-play goal at 12:52 with Royals defenseman Josh Anderson in the penalty box serving a double-minor for a spearing infraction.
Davis finished with a goal and two assists, capping off a big weekend which saw him tally six points. For Bradley, it was his 23rd goal in 23 games this season, and his third in this two-game weekend series. He is tied for second in the league scoring race with 44 points, four back of Okanagan’s Tyson Jost (21 goals, 27 assists, 48 points).
Brandon Tuttle scored twice for the Royals and Markus Daly finished the game with 36 saves for South Island, but their performances weren’t enough. The Hawks put the game away on Jordan Funk’s second-period power-play goal and Luke Gingras’s short-handed marker early in the third.
Specialty teams played a big role in the contest, with both of Tuttle’s goals coming with the man advantage. Four of the Hawks’ goals came on the power play and their fifth was a short-handed effort.
Though the Hawks had the edge in shots for the game at 41-29, Valley West goaltender Cole Forbes still had to come up with some big saves to lead his team to the victory. Forbes was especially sharp in the second as he stopped 15 shots in that period to thwart the Royals’ comeback.
“I thought the boys played really well in the first,” said Forbes, who finished with 27 saves. “We kind of let off a bit in the second and third, but we pulled it out. So, it was a good team effort.”
The weekend sweep allowed the third-place Hawks (17-8-1) to gain ground on the second-place Vancouver North West Giants (19-4-1), who split their two games this weekend against the Greater Vancouver Canadians. Valley West is only four points back of Vancouver North West, and trails league-leading Okanagan (22-3-1) by 10 points.
“It was really important [to sweep the Royals this weekend] especially coming off two tough losses last week [against Okanagan],” said Hawks captain Paul Savage. “I think it helps us going into the [Christmas] break just four points back [of second place].”
At the Burnaby Winter Club, the Vancouver North West Giants defeated the Greater Vancouver Canadians 6-4, with Tak Anholt scoring twice for the winners.
Colton Kerfoot added a goal and three assists for the Giants, giving him 20 goals and 24 helpers in 24 games this season. He is tied with Matt Bradley of West Valley for second in the league scoring race with 44 points.
Alex Whitwham had two goals for the Canadians in a losing effort.
At the Memorial Arena in Kamloops, Cory Santoro had two goals and an assist as the league-leading Okanagan Rockets won 4-1 over the Thompson Blazers. Tyson Jost, the league’s leading scorer, chipped in with two assists and now has 48 points (21 goals, 27 assists) in only 22 games.
At Planet Ice in Coquitlam, the Vancouver North East Chiefs routed the North Island Silvertips 6-1 with captain Connor Burk scoring a hat trick and adding an assist. Burk’s first goal came with 1:22 left in the first period, snapping a 1-1 tie, and the Chiefs never looked back from that point.
Dawson Heathcote had the Silvertips’ lone goal, while Jeffrey Wong, Caleb Fantillo, and Ronnie Wilkie also scored for the Chiefs.
At the Prospera Centre in Chilliwack, the Fraser Valley Thunderbirds broke out with an eight-goal effort just one day after getting shut out, as they salvaged a weekend series split with a wild 8-5 victory over the Cariboo Cougars.
Andrew Strelezki had two goals and two assists for the Thunderbirds, and Dryden Downing also contributed with two goals and an assist. Austin Wellsby and Danny Choi each added a goal and two helpers for Fraser Valley.
Cariboo’s Steven Jandric scored with 8:29 left in the game to pull the Cougars to within 6-5, but Wellsby gave the Thunderbirds a two-goal cushion just 33 seconds later and Nicholas Ponak sealed the win with an empty-netter with 59 seconds remaining.
