Playing two games spaced fewer than 16 hours apart from each other in two Vancouver Island towns took a toll on the Langley Rivermen.
Langley’s junior A hockey team was fresh off a 6-3 win over the Alberni Valley Bulldogs on Saturday when they hit the ice again for a Sunday matinee tilt versus the Cowichan Valley Capitals.
Even though they have the B.C. Hockey League’s Island Division’s worst record at 9-20-0-1, the Caps – who were coming off a 3-1 loss to the
Nanaimo Clippers the night before – managed to outscore the Rivermen 6-4.
The loss drops the Rivermen’s record to 14-11-1-4 as they occupy sole possession of third place in the BCHL’s Mainland Division.
The Rivermen’s Hunter Anderson tied the score at 3-3 when he found the net 2:33 into the final frame.
The Capitals went ahead for good with back-to-back markers from Sean Harrison and Kyle Horsman to take a 5-3 lead.
Harrison’s go-ahead marker came 19 seconds after Anderson’s goal.
Gage Torrel scored at the 11:07 mark on a Rivermen power play to narrow the deficit to 5-4.
But with 5:36 to play in regulation, Adam Osczevski restored Cowichan’s two-goal cushion with what turned out to be the final goal of the game.
Colton Kehler and Justin Szeto scored the other goals for the Rivermen, who fell behind 2-0 at one point of the opening frame, and trailed 2-1 after the first period and 3-2 after 40 minutes.
Langley outshot Cowichan Valley 34-23.
Rivermen 6, Alberni Valley 3
Saturday at Weyerhaeuser Arena in Port Alberni, the Rivermen jumped ahead 3-0 in the first period before holding off a Bulldogs’ comeback attempt to win by a three-goal margin.
Szeto scored twice for the Rivermen, including the goal that put the visitors ahead 5-3 at the 3:17 mark of the third period.
His goal stalled a major momentum shift for the Bulldogs, who got goals 30 seconds apart from Zak Bowles and Scott Clark during the second minute of the final frame to narrow their margin at 4-3.
Colton Kehler’s empty net goal with 3:17 to play sealed the victory.
Zachary Bleuler (on a power play), Torrel, and Szeto put the Rivermen ahead by three in the first period.
Anderson scored in the second frame for the ’Men.
Chilliwack Chiefs 4, Rivermen 3 (double overtime)
The Rivermen kicked off their December stretch of games with a point, as they fell 4-3 in double overtime against the Chilliwack Chiefs at Prospera Centre on Wednesday night.
A solid night by Rivermen forwards Torrel, Anderson, and Marcus Vela but the team was unable to muster up the extra point.
For the fifth straight game Langley gave up the game’s first goal, as Chilliwack opened the scoring just 1:45 into the first period thanks to Ryan
Bowen, who slipped one past Langley goaltender Bo Didur.
The Chiefs made it 2-0 shortly after on the power play as Tipper Higgins found the net.
The Rivermen would answer late in the period thanks to Torrel’s first of two on the night.
Torrel finished off a nice two-on-one passing play from Vela to cut the lead in half going into period number two.
Chilliwack scored early in the second when Kurt Black made it 3-1 less than four minutes into the frame. Down two goals, Langley started to click, eventually tying the game. Torrel scored his second of the game on the power play to cut the Chiefs lead to one.
Vela evened up the game, beating goaltender Aidan Pelino mid-way through the third period to make it 3-3. Anderson got the lone assist for his third helper of the game.
After no scoring in the third period and first overtime, the Chiefs found the net during the three-on-three overtime when Craig Puffer put home a rebound past Didur.