Adanacs Win a Quiet Game 5

After the chaos of game 4 and the suspensions that followed, the New Westminster Salmonbellies and Coquitlam Adanacs were right back at it in game 5 at Queen's Park on Wednesday night.

The Adanacs had most of the scoring chances in the first period, but Salmonbellies goaltender Ross Bowman made some big saves to shut down the Adanacs offence. Adanacs’ Michael Messenger made a trip to the penalty box for interference and the ‘Bellies weren’t able to score until Messenger got out of the box when Josh Byrne waited for Messenger to come out and then ripped it past goaltender Pete Dubenski to make it 1-0. Byrne scored his second of the game a minute later when he cut into the middle and shot it low on Dubenski.

The Adanacs had an opportunity to get on the board with Javier Tudela sitting in the box for two minutes, but Ross Bowman made some huge saves, most of 18 saves coming on that penalty kill, but Bowman couldn’t stop them all as Cole Shafer was given enough space to set up and put it top corner to make it 2-1. Anthony Malcom made it 3-1 for the ‘Bellies 30 seconds later when he received a pass from Byrne as he cut into the middle and deked out Dubenski. With the score 3-1 at the end of the period, Dubenski still made some big saves as he made 15 saves in the period, but it was the Adanacs offence who couldn’t put away a few more past Bowman.

The second period was completely opposite from the first period with Dubenski shining and Bowman getting beat a few times. The first half of the second period saw limited scoring chances as the goaltenders were making the saves they needed to, but both teams were playing tight defence.

It wasn’t until 12:44 when a goal was scored as Tyler Pace scored a beauty with a behind the back shot to make it 3-2. Under 2 minutes later, Shafer was given too much space and time again to wind up as he picked the corner to even the score at 3. On a quick transition, Jordan Gilles received a pass to go on a semi-breakaway and shot it past Bowman, who would have loved to get that goal back, but the Adanacs got their first lead of the game at 16:58. It’s still a goaltenders game as Dubenski ended the period with 14 saves and Bowman made 12 saves.

The game was quickly tied up when Luke Gillespie picked up the ball in the defensive zone and just ran right down the middle and scored at 2:20 to make it 4-4.

The Adanacs took the lead at 7:13 when captain Wesley Berg scored and that goal was a game changer as the Adanacs went up by 2 when Evan Wortley and Eli McLaughlin played give and go with McLaughlin finishing it off at 8:04.

The Salmonbellies offence couldn’t generate any chances as the Adanacs never let the ‘Bellies get in close on Dubenski, leaving them to take shots from the outside. It was at 17:30 when the Adanacs put the final dagger into the ‘Bellies when Wortley set a pick for Brett Hawrys who then passed it to Wortley to make it 7-4 Adanacs, as the Adanacs take a 3-2 series lead.

Three stars of the game
1. Coquitlam – Pete Dubenski – 36 saves, 4 goals allowed
2. Coquitlam – Wesley Berg – 1 goal, 2 assists
3. New Westminster – Ross Bowman – 39 saves, 7 goals allowed

It’s do or die for the Salmonbellies who will need to win game 6 at the Coquitlam Sports Centre to make this series go the distance, while the Adanacs will look to win their 6th straight championship title at home. Game 6 takes place on Friday evening at 7:30PM.