After a pair of less-than-stellar efforts, the Langley Rivermen got their game back on track, defeating the Merritt Centennials 5-1.
The Rivermen hosted Merritt on Wednesday (Nov. 5) at the Langley Events Centre to kick off a stretch of five games in seven days for the junior A hockey club.
The team is 7-6-1-3 and their 18 points have them sitting in third place in the BCHL's Mainland Division.
“Our approach coming into tonight was good,” said Langley head coach and general manager Bobby Henderson.
“We were willing to do the little things tonight to win. We played hard all the way through. Bo (Didur) played well and made some key saves.”
Didur was six seconds away from his second shutout of the season when Merritt's Gavin Gould scored on the power play.
“It’s a team game,” said Didur, who finished with 33 saves.
“At the end of the day all you want is a win. It’s always nice to try and get a shutout but sometimes that’s the way it goes and I’m just glad we got the win.”
Langley led 2-0 after one period thanks to goals from Kevan Kilistoff and Jacob Kearley, which came 64 seconds apart.
Jordan Schmidt and Gage Torrel made it 4-0 in the second period and Evan Anderson got the team's fifth goal early in the third.
Entering the game, Merritt's Jonah Imoo led the with a 1.37 goals against average.
“They played well,” said Centennials head coach and general manager Luke Pierce.
“You got to give Langley a ton of credit. They were the hungrier team and showed they wanted it more. It’s a good lesson for us to learn.”
“They’re on top of you every time we had the puck,” he continued.
“They moved pucks really well on the power play and I thought their goaltender was the difference in the game and stopped us when we had some key chances to get back in the game.”
The Rivermen now will have a day to rest as they gear up for a home-and-home with the Chilliwack Chiefs. Friday night’s game is a 7 p.m. puck drop at the LEC.
The game is Five Hole for Food Night as fans get in free with the donation of a non-perishable food item or cash donation.