BCMML - North Island Silvertips @ Vancouver North East Chiefs - December 21, 2013

Here are the BC Major Midget League interviews from the North Island Silvertips-Vancouver North East Chiefs game on Saturday, December 21, 2013 at the Planet Ice rink in Coquitlam, BC.

Thanks to the players/coaches from both sides accommodating me, I was able to record the following interviews:

Chiefs head coach Doneau Menard
Chiefs assistant captain Austin Campeau
Chiefs goalie Adam Derochie
Silvertips head coach Jason Dubyna
Silvertips captain Joe Surgenor
Silvertips goalie John Hawthorne

For a recap of this game and the other contests in the BCMML, click here.

BCMML: Recaps of games on December 14-15, 2013

Here are the recaps of the BC Major Midget League games from the weekend of December 14-15, 2013, originally posted on MidgetAAACanada.com:

Tuesday, December 17, 2013 - Submitted by KP Wee MidgetAAACanada.com BCMML/National Correspondent

BCMML Week 13 Recap – Sunday Games Okanagan Rockets 6, West Valley Hawks 4   A second straight third-period comeback propelled the visiting Okanagan Rockets to a 6-4 victory over the West Valley Hawks at the Capital News Centre in Kelowna, BC, on Sunday morning. For the second consecutive day, the BC Major Midget League-leading Rockets (20-3-1) led 3-2 after 40 minutes before the third-place Hawks (15-8-1) rallied on goals by Matt Bradley and Jordan Funk to take a 4-3 advantage in the third period. ­­ After the Rockets tied the score on Tanner Campbell’s power-play goal at 8:17 of the third, captain Brendan Wagner scored short-handed with 7:18 remaining to put Okanagan ahead for good. Tyson Jost, the league’s leading scorer, also tallied two goals and an assist for Okanagan and now has 43 points (21 goals, 22 assists) in just 20 games this season. With the victory, the Rockets maintained their four-point cushion over the second-place Vancouver North West Giants (18-3-1) for top spot in the BCMML standings. West Valley now trails Okanagan by 10 points with the back-to-back third-period collapses. Bradley had two goals and two assists for the Hawks, and his 39 points (20 goals, 19 assists) trail only Jost in the BCMML scoring race. Vancouver North West Giants 6, South Island Royals 1 A four-goal second-period outburst snapped a 1-1 tie and gave the Vancouver North West Giants a 6-1 victory over the South Island Royals at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria, capping a weekend series sweep. Quinn Benjafield had two goals and an assist for the Giants, and Quinn Thompson also notched two goals. Owen Stout chipped in with a goal and two helpers. Andrew Jack scored the lone goal (his fifth of the year) for the Royals, who are now winless in their last five contests (0-4-1). They have been outscored 23-10 during that stretch, and have won only twice in their past 12 games. Vancouver North East Chiefs 5, Kootenay Ice 1 At Trail Cominco Arena, the Vancouver North East Chiefs defeated the Kootenay Ice by a 5-1 score for the second consecutive day, completing a two-game weekend series sweep. The Chiefs got goals from five different players, with San Chung, Parker Colley, and Lucas Santucci scoring in the second period to break open a scoreless affair. Matthew Davis and Caleb Fantillo added third-period power-play goals for Vancouver North East to put the game out of reach, while Ryan Neil scored the lone goal for Kootenay in the final period. The loss gave Kootenay its league-leading 17th of the year, and the Ice remain tied with the idle Thompson Blazers for last place in the standings. Both Kootenay (3-17-4) and Thompson (2-14-6) have 10 points apiece. The Ice have also allowed a league-worst 138 goals in 24 games. The Chiefs (11-9-4), meanwhile, moved to within five points of Valley West (15-8-1) for third place. North Island Silvertips 4, Fraser Valley Thunderbirds 2 Carter Turnbull’s two goals were the difference for North Island as the Silvertips defeated the Fraser Valley Thunderbirds 4-2 at Nanaimo Ice Centre on Sunday morning. Rowan Siider and Matthew Cahill each had two assists for the Silvertips, and Lewis Bo and Joe Surgenor scored North Island’s other two goals. Nicholas Ponak and Hayden Guilderson each had a goal and an assist for the reeling Thunderbirds, who have won just once in their last six games (1-4-1). North Island, meanwhile, snapped a five-game winless skid with the victory, ending a streak which saw them go 0-3-2 including a 6-6 tie with Fraser Valley the night before. Greater Vancouver Canadians 10, Cariboo Cougars 2 Dante Hannoun’s two goals and four assists led the way as the Greater Vancouver Canadians earned a split in their weekend series with the Cariboo Cougars, winning 10-2 on Sunday afternoon at the CN Centre in Prince George, BC. Braeden Gurney also contributed a hat trick and an assist for the Canadians, who improved to 12-11-1 this season. The outcome was never in doubt as the Canadians exploded for five goals in the opening period, with Gurney scoring twice and Hannoun, Alex Whitwham, and Jordan Deyrmenjian adding single tallies in the game’s first 20 minutes. Gurney’s four-point afternoon gave him 26 points (nine goals, 17 assists) in 24 games this season, and Hannoun now has 32 points (15 goals, 17 assists) in 22 contests. Whitwham also had three assists in the contest for a four-point game, and Deyrmenjian added his second goal of the afternoon in the second period. Specialty teams dominated this game as both of Cariboo’s goals came on the power play, and Greater Vancouver scored four times with the man advantage and also added a short-handed goal.

Monday, December 16, 2013 - Submitted by KP Wee MidgetAAACanada.com BCMML/National Correspondent

BCMML Week 13 Recap – Saturday Games Okanagan Rockets 5, West Valley Hawks 4 Kristan Blumenschein and Tanner Wishnowski scored in the final three minutes of the game as the visiting Okanagan Rockets stunned the West Valley Hawks with a 5-4 victory at the Capital News Centre in Kelowna, BC, on Saturday night. The league-leading Rockets (19-3-1) led 3-2 after 40 minutes before the third-place Hawks (15-7-1) rallied for two goals in a 1:03 span midway through the third period. The Rockets, however, tied the game at the 17:00 mark of the third when Blumenschein scored his third goal of the campaign. The game appeared destined to finish in a tie with time running out, but Wishnowski tallied his second goal of the contest—his seventh of the year—with only 48 seconds remaining, giving Okanagan the stunning victory. The win moved the Rockets eight points ahead of the Hawks for top spot in the BC Major Midget League standings. Vancouver North West Giants 5, South Island Royals 1 At Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria, Owen Stout scored twice to lead the Vancouver North West Giants to a 5-1 victory over the host South Island Royals. Callahan Brebner had two assists for the Giants, and Dante Fabbro added a goal and two assists, as Vancouver North West (17-3-1) kept pace with first-place Okanagan.  With the win, the Giants remained four points back of the Rockets for top spot in the BCMML standings. The loss, meanwhile, dropped the Royals to 8-12-3, tied for eighth place. Eddy Keenan scored the lone goal for South Island. Vancouver North East Chiefs 5, Kootenay Ice 1 At Trail Cominco Arena, Caleb Fantillo scored twice to lead the Vancouver North East Chiefs to a 5-1 victory over the struggling Kootenay Ice, sending the home team to its league-leading 16th loss of the season. Ziyan Karim had two assists for the Chiefs, and captain Connor Burk added a goal and an assist, allowing Vancouver North East to move a game over the .500 mark at 10-9-4. The game was tied 1-1 after 40 minutes before the Chiefs erupted for four goals in the final period, including San Chung’s go-ahead score just 50 seconds into the third. Coy Prevost, the leading scorer for the Ice, tallied his sixth goal of the year but Kootenay dropped to 3-16-4 and remained tied for last place with the idle Thompson Blazers (2-14-6). Fraser Valley Thunderbirds 6, North Island Silvertips 6 At Nanaimo Ice Centre, Brice Sharp and captain Austin Wellsby scored in the final eight minutes of the third period as the visiting Fraser Valley Thunderbirds rallied for a 6-6 tie with the North Island Silvertips. With North Island ahead 6-4, Sharp scored his eighth goal of the year at 12:14 of the third period to cut the deficit to one, before Wellsby got his 11th of the season with 5:37 remaining to salvage the tie for the Thunderbirds. Joe Surgenor scored twice for the Silvertips (8-11-4), who remained a point ahead of Fraser Valley (8-12-3) for sixth place. Cariboo Cougars 3, Greater Vancouver Canadians 2 At Fort Forum Arena in Fort St. James, BC, Jesse Roach scored two goals and had an assist, as the Cariboo Cougars defeated the Greater Vancouver Canadians 3-2. Colton Thomas had a goal and an assist, and Steven Jandric added two helpers for the Cougars. Cariboo led 2-0 after two periods before Braeden Gurney put the Canadians on the scoreboard 2:56 into the final stanza. Canadians captain Scott Munro tied things up 1:30 later, but Roach got his second goal of the game with only 1:17 remaining to give the Cougars (9-12-2) their ninth win of the season. The loss dropped the Canadians to 11-11-1.

BCMML - Fraser Valley Thunderbirds @ Greater Vancouver Canadians - December 8, 2013

Here are the BC Major Midget League interviews from the Fraser Valley Thunderbirds-Greater Vancouver Canadians game on Sunday, December 8, 2013 at the Richmond Oval in Richmond, BC.

The Canadians won 5-2, and following the game I had an opportunity to conduct several interviews with coaches/players from both sides:

As for the recaps of this game and the other contests in the BCMML, please see the following, originally posted on the MidgetAAACanada.com website:

Monday, December 9, 2013 - Submitted by KP Wee MidgetAAACanada.com BCMML/National Correspondent

BCMML Week 12 Recap – Sunday Games (Richmond Oval – Richmond, BC)—Dante Hannoun scored twice and Josh Murphy added a goal and two assists, as the Greater Vancouver Canadians completed a weekend series sweep of the Fraser Valley Thunderbirds with a 5-2 victory in BC Major Midget League action on Sunday afternoon at the Richmond Oval. The game was scoreless until late in the first period, when Hannoun scored his team-leading 12th goal of the year with 1:23 remaining. Ryan Jones, Nathan McCarman, and Murphy then scored for the Canadians in a span of 3 minutes and 5 seconds midway through the second period as Greater Vancouver jumped out to a 4-1 lead. Hannoun added his 13th goal of the year, his second of the game, late in the third period to ice the game or the Canadians. He leads Greater Vancouver in goals and points (26). Despite the victory, the Canadians thought they could have been better in the second period. “I thought we started off pretty strong,” said Canadians head coach Phil Alalouf. “I thought the first period was great. The second period, I think we sat back a little bit when we were up 4-1. And then the third period, we closed it out, which is good. The guys battled well.” “It was a good team win,” added Canadians goaltender Tyler Shugrue, who notched his seventh win of the year. “We all did well as a team, except the second period [when] we kind of dipped off a little bit. For the most part it was a good team effort, and we got the win.” By winning both of their games against Fraser Valley this weekend, Greater Vancouver (11-10-1) took sole possession of fourth place in the BCMML standings, one point ahead of the Vancouver North East Chiefs (9-9-4). Hayden Guilderson had a goal and an assist for the Thunderbirds (8-12-2), who were swept in the season series against the Canadians. “It doesn’t seem like we match up very well with this team,” said Thunderbirds head coach Bill Grieve. “We’ve played them now five times, and we’ve got five losses [against] this team. We don’t match up with their speed, and we didn’t have a very good weekend this weekend.” Elsewhere in the BCMML… In Rossland, Tyson Jost and Branden Wagner each scored two goals, leading the first-place Okanagan Rockets (18-3-1) to an 8-1 victory over the Kootenay Ice (3-15-4). Wagner also added an assist, giving him a three-point game, while Jost continued his torrid scoring pace with his 18th and 19th goals in only 18 games. According to the Rockets’ official website, Okanagan’s shutout streak against Kootenay reached 544 minutes and 18 seconds before it was finally snapped at 18:33 of the second period when Coy Prevost scored the Ice’s lone goal of the game. The Rockets swept the season series from the Ice, outscoring them 34-1 in four games. At Planet Ice in Coquitlam, Matthew Hermary scored twice as the Vancouver North East Chiefs defeated the South Island Royals 4-2. Hermary had three goals in the weekend series, giving him eight for the season. The Chiefs (9-9-4) remain in fifth place, three points ahead of the Royals (8-11-3), in a tight six-team race for fourth spot. At the Langley Sportsplex, the Valley West Hawks (15-6-1) and the Cariboo Cougars (8-12-2) battled to a 1-1 tie, with Ty Westgard’s power-play goal with 5:12 remaining in the game salvaging a point for the Hawks. The tie snapped a five-game losing skid for the Cougars, who got a first-period goal from Colton Thomas. In Kamloops, Cole Clifford and Josh Pilon scored in the third period to snap a 2-2 tie as the Thompson Blazers (2-14-6) earned their second victory of the season, defeating the North Island Silvertips (8-11-3) by a score of 4-2. The Silvertips went up 2-0 on first-period tallies by Mathieu Jallabert and Hunter Findlater, but the Blazers stormed back with four answered goals for the win.

BCMML - South Island Royals @ Vancouver North East Chiefs - December 7, 2013

Here are the BC Major Midget League interviews from the Vancouver North East Chiefs-South Island Royals game on Saturday, December 7, 2013 at the Planet Ice rink in Coquitlam, BC.

The two teams battled to a 4-4 tie, and the interviews are as follows:

Thanks to Chiefs coach Doneau Menard, Chiefs captain Connor Burk, Royals coach Geoff Grimwood, Royals captain Nick Guiney, and Royals goalie Markus Daly for taking the time to speak with me.

Here is a recap of this day's BCMML action, originally posted on the MidgetAAACanada.com website:

Sunday, December 8, 2013 - Submitted by KP Wee MidgetAAACanada.com BCMML/National Correspondent

BCMML Week 12 Recap – Saturday Games (Planet Ice – Coquitlam, BC)—Caleb Fantillo scored twice, including a power-play marker early in the third period, as the Vancouver North East Chiefs came back from a pair of two-goal deficits in a 4-4 tie with the visiting South Island Royals in BC Major Midget League action at Planet Ice in Coquitlam, BC. Fantillo’s efforts gave him eight goals for the season, second-most on the Chiefs, as Vancouver North East gained an important point after trailing 2-0 just six-and-half minutes into the contest and 4-2 late in the second period. South Island got on the scoreboard just 18 seconds into the game when captain Nick Guiney notched his 16th goal of the season. Andrew Jack added his fourth goal of the year just 6:15 later, giving the Royals what seemed like an insurmountable 2-0 lead. However, Matthew Davis (his seventh) and Fantillo (his seventh) evened things up later in the first period before Guiney scored his 17th goal of the campaign 5:25 into the second period to put the Royals ahead 3-2. Parker Ellis made it 4-2 for South Island with 6:13 remaining in the second, his second goal of the year. Matthew Hermary cut the deficit to 4-3 just 57 seconds later with his sixth goal of the season for the Chiefs, but South Island still enjoyed a one-goal advantage through 40 minutes. Unfortunately, the Royals couldn’t stay out of the penalty box, as they were called for the final six penalties in the game including four in the third period. Fantillo’s tying goal, his second of the game, came 3:43 into the final period with the Chiefs enjoying a 5-on-3 man advantage with defensemen Kurtis Gamble (boarding) and Tomba Huddlestan (hooking) in the penalty box. “Our effort was good in the third period,” said Chiefs captain Connor Burk, who assisted on the tying goal. “[It] wasn’t so good in the first and second, but in the third period we came out pretty strong, which kind of helped us.” With the tie, the Chiefs (8-9-4) fell into fifth place, one point back of the Greater Vancouver Canadians (10-10-1), who defeated Fraser Valley in Abbotsford. South Island (8-10-3) remains a point back of the Chiefs. “I think it was an entertaining game,” noted Royals coach Geoff Grimwood. “I know we had a great start, but the tough part was that as the game went on, the Chiefs just got better and better. They took it to us at the end of the game. “But at the end of the day, our guys had a good, gritty game. I thought some guys stepped up and played really well. We’ll take the tie, [and hope] we’ll get the win tomorrow.” The Royals and Chiefs resume their weekend series on Sunday morning back at the Planet Ice. Elsewhere in the BCMML… At the Rossland Arena in Rossland, Tyson Jost scored two goals and two assists to regain the league’s scoring lead, and his Okanagan Rockets blanked the host Kootenay Ice 8-0 to move into sole possession of first place in the standings. With the victory, Okanagan (17-3-1) moved two points ahead of the idle Vancouver North West Giants (16-3-1) for top spot in the league. Jost’s four points, meanwhile, gave him 36 points (17 goals, 19 assists), two more than the Giants’ Colton Kerfoot (15 goals, 19 assists, 34 points). In addition to Jost’s exploits, Liam Finlay also scored three goals for the Rockets and Tanner Campbell added three assists. According to the Rockets’ official website, the shutout marked the eighth consecutive game in which Okanagan has blanked the Ice, a streak that has now reached 484 minutes and 44 seconds. Reid Kilburn stopped 25 shots for his third shutout of the year—all three have come against Kootenay—and notched his league-leading 11th win. At the ARC in Abbotsford, the visiting Greater Vancouver Canadians defeated the Fraser Valley Thunderbirds 4-1, with Owel Seidel contributing a goal and an assist. With the win, the Canadians (10-10-1) moved ahead of the Vancouver North East Chiefs (8-9-4) for fourth place in the league. Kyle Uy, Ryan Wilkinson, and Josh Murphy also scored for the Canadians, while Nicholas Ponak tallied the lone goal for the Thunderbirds (8-11-2). At the Langley Sportsplex in Langley, the Valley West Hawks defeated slumping Cariboo 5-3, handing the Cougars (8-12-1) their fifth consecutive loss. The third-place Hawks (15-6-0) remain five points back of league-leading Okanagan (17-3-1), and moved to within three points of the idle Vancouver North West Giants (16-3-1). Finally, Tylor Seabrooke’s power-play goal with 7:35 remaining in the third period lifted the Thompson Blazers (1-14-6) to a 3-3 tie with the visiting North Island Silvertips (8-10-3) at the Chase Art Holding Memorial Arena. The Silvertips led 3-0 midway through the second period thanks to two goals by Clayton Peace and another by Nik Malencia, but the Blazers stormed back on two goals by Nii Noi Tetteh before Seabrooke evened things up late in regulation. Gordon Keaton had three assists for Thompson.

BCMML - Cariboo Cougars @ Vancouver North West Giants - December 1, 2013

Here are the BC Major Midget League interviews from the Cariboo Cougars-Vancouver North West Giants game on Sunday, December 1, 2013 at the Burnaby Winter Club (a 6-4 Giants win). Cougars head coach Bryan MacLean, captain Scott Cullen, and goaltender Lane Delfs spent some time to chat with me after the contest.

For the recaps of this game and the other contests in the BCMML, please see below:

Note: These recaps were originally posted on the MidgetAAACanada.com website.

Monday, December 2, 2013 - Submitted by KP Wee MidgetAAACanada.com BCMML/National Correspondent BCMML Week 11 Recap – Sunday Games

(Burnaby Winter Club – Burnaby, BC)—Four goals in the third period allowed the Vancouver North West Giants to complete a weekend sweep over the visiting Cariboo Cougars in a thrilling 6-4 victory on Sunday afternoon at the Burnaby Winter Club.

The win, coupled with the Okanagan Rockets’ 5-2 loss at Planet Ice in Coquitlam to the Vancouver North East Chiefs, pulled the Giants into a first-place tie with Okanagan atop the BC Major Midget League standings.

Vancouver North West had also won on Saturday night, defeating Cariboo by a score of 9-3.

In the Sunday game, the Giants trailed 3-2 after 40 minutes before exploding for four goals in the final period. With Giants defenseman Ty Schultz in the penalty box for a boarding infraction, Keyvan Mokhtari scored shorthanded to give Vancouver North West a 4-3 lead with 10:49 remaining in the game.

Cariboo evened things up just 20 seconds later with Jesse Roach potting a power-play goal to make it 4-4. The Giants, though, went ahead for good on Colton Kerfoot’s goal with 7:45 remaining—his second of the game—and Dante Fabbro added an insurance marker two minutes later, his third goal of this two-game series.

With his three points (2 G, 1 A), Kerfoot has taken over the scoring race in the BCMML, moving past Okanagan’s Tyson Jost. Kerfoot now has 15 goals and 34 points in 20 games, while Jost remained at 32 points after being held off the scoresheet on Sunday.

It was the Cougars’ fourth straight loss following a stretch which saw them win three of four in mid-November.

“I thought for the first 40 minutes we played fairly well… We just didn’t find a way to close out the game,” lamented Cougars head coach Bryan MacLean afterward. “Credit to the Giants. They stuck with it for 60 minutes. We got away from our structure in the last 20 minutes, and that’s what ended up costing us the hockey game.

“But it was a lot better than yesterday’s game and that’s something to build off of, so we’re happy about that.”

Through 20 games in the 2013-14 BC Major Midget League season, the Giants are 16-3-1 and are now tied with Okanagan atop the league standings. Cariboo dropped to 8-11-1.

Elsewhere in the BCMML on Sunday, the Fraser Valley Thunderbrids defeated the South Island Royals 4-2 at Chilliwack’s Prospera Centre to earn a split of their weekend series. Austin Wellsby scored a hat trick for Fraser Valley (8-10-2), and Hayden Guilderson had the other Thunderbird tally. Brandon Tutte had a goal and an assist for South Island (8-10-2).

In Coquitlam, the Vancouver North East Chiefs (8-9-3) bounced back from a 7-2 shellacking the night before with a strong 5-2 victory over the Okanagan Rockets. For the Rockets, it was just their third loss all year as they dropped to 16-3-1. Vancouver North East built a 3-0 lead midway through the second period and hung on for the win. San Chung had two goals and an assist for the Giants, and Ziyan Karim also contributed a goal and two assists. Brett Young had a goal and an assist for Okanagan.

In Kamloops, the Thompson Blazers (1-14-5) and Kootenay Ice (3-13-4) battled to a 2-2 tie. Coy Prevost and Tyler Van Steinburg each had a goal and an assist for the Ice.

Meanwhile, in Langley, the Valley West Hawks (14-6-0) pulled out a 5-2 win over the visiting North Island Silvertips (8-10-2). Matt Bradley potted two goals and added an assist for the Hawks in the victory, giving him 28 points (14 G, 14 A) in 17 games this season.


 

BCMML - Okanagan Rockets @ Vancouver North East Chiefs - November 30, 2013

Here are the BC Major Midget League interviews from the Vancouver North East Chiefs-Okanagan Rockets game on Saturday, November 30, 2013 in Coquitlam, BC (a 7-2 Rockets victory).

On the Rockets side, head coach Mack O'Rourke, captain Branden Wagner, and goaltender Reid Kilburn spoke with me after the contest.

For a recap of the game as well as the other BCMML contests of the night, please see below:


Note: These recaps were originally posted on the MidgetAAACanada.com website.

Sunday, December 1, 2013 - Submitted by KP Wee MidgetAAACanada.com BCMML/National Correspondent

BCMML Week 11 Recap – Saturday Games

(Planet Ice arena – Coquitlam, BC)—The Okanagan Rockets took advantage of several early power-play opportunities and continued their winning ways, routing the Vancouver North East Chiefs by a score of 7-2 on Saturday night at the Planet Ice arena in Coquitlam.

Okanagan (16-2-1) dominated play in the opening 20 minutes, jumping out to a 3-0 lead on a trio of power-play goals by the midway point of the first period. The Rockets outshot the Chiefs 24-1 in the opening stanza, registering the first 21 shots of the game before Vancouver North East (7-9-3) managed its first shot with 3:03 remaining in the period.

Tanner Campbell was the offensive star for the Rockets with two goals and an assist while Tyson Jost, the league’s leading scorer with 31 points in 14 games entering the contest, added his 15th goal of the year. Linden Hora also scored his 15th goal of the season for Okanagan.

“We played solid tonight,” noted Rockets captain Branden Wagner, a second-year forward with Okanagan. “Overall, we played pretty good defensively. Offensively, we had lots of chances, and we capitalized on quite a few of them.” 

The Rockets’ victory kept them atop the BC Major Midget League standings as they maintained a two-point lead over the Vancouver North West Giants (15-3-1). It was Okanagan’s sixth straight victory, while Vancouver North East has now dropped seven straight.

“Special teams were a big part tonight,” said Okanagan head coach Mack O’Rourke, referring to the fact his squad received 16 power-play opportunities in the game. “It was tough to really get any pace going five-on-five. I don't know how many minutes were totalled up between both teams, but it was definitely a special teams battle. We capitalized on quite a few of ours, and that's what got us the win tonight.”

Chiefs goaltender Jakob Severson, who had a 2.32 goals-against average in 10 games going into the contest, kept his team in the game early on as Vancouver North East trailed only 3-1 after the first period. Severson finished with 52 saves on the night, as the Chiefs were outshot 59-24 for the game.

Though Rockets goaltender Reid Kilburn wasn’t as busy—he faced only nine shots through the midway point of the second period—he stayed sharp and finished with 22 saves. “I tried a lot to talk to myself, do like play-by-play,” said Kilburn of staying focused in goal despite the lack of shots. “Just get myself [to] stay in the game, watch the pucks... that's what I have to do.” 

Kilburn, who entered the game with a league-best 2.09 goals-against average, improved to 10-1-1 on the season.

The Rockets and Chiefs resume their weekend series with a morning game at the same venue, with Vancouver North East looking to bounce back from the loss.

Elsewhere in BC Major Midget League action, the Vancouver North West Giants improved to 15-3-1 with a 9-3 victory over the Cariboo Cougars (8-10-1) in Burnaby. Defenseman Fabbro Dante scored two goals for the Giants, and forward Justin Szeto added two goals and three assists, as the Giants remain two points back of Okanagan for top spot in the BCMML standings. Riley Pettitt tallied two of Cariboo’s three goals.

In Kamloops, the Thompson Blazers (1-14-4) and Kootenay Ice (3-13-3) battled to a 3-3 tie with Cole Perison’s late third-period power-play goal salvaging a point for the Blazers.

Meanwhile, the Valley West Hawks (13-6-0) doubled the North Island Silvertips (8-9-2) by a score of 6-3 in Langley, and the South Island Royals (8-9-2) also defeated the Fraser Valley Thunderbirds (7-10-2) by the same 6-3 margin in Abbotsford.

Bring on the BCMML!

With baseball season being only three months long in Vancouver because it is short-season Class-A ball, as a sports fan I prefer to get out there and attend other local sports instead of waiting around for the summer months to roll around.

So, this fall, I began attending BC Major Midget Hockey games around British Columbia in venues such as the Richmond Oval, Burnaby Winter Club, Langley Events Centre, and Coquitlam's Planet Ice. It is terrific to have the opportunity to cover hockey (which, along with baseball, classifies as my favourite sport) and report about the games I attend, as well as conducting interviews with coaches and players for the wonderful MidgetAAACanada.com network.