'Bellies Weather the Storm

Submitted by League Reporter, Jen Mutas

After having a successful pre-season record of over .500, the Langley Thunder are one month into the regular season and find themselves in an annoyingly familiar spot at the bottom of the BCJALL standings. The story behind the game would be that of the goalies; Ray Hodgkinson recently made the move from New West to Langley after the Thunder released Mike Lowe, and Neil Tyacke was a member of the Stickmen before being picked up by the 'Bellies.

Just as they have a tendency to do, the Thunder came out with good energy in the first; they had two goals from Richard Willmott, and Hodgkinson looked focused on stopping his old team facing fourteen shots and only letting one get past him. It was a disciplined opening frame with the only penalty being called against Langley, resulting in the only power play goal of the game by Ben Davies.

With the score tight, the second and third period would be a different story for both teams. The 'Bellies threw four goals past Hodgkinson before their own goalie Tyacke would be called for illegal equipment halfway through the period and get tossed out of the game. Brandon Mulligan would come in to replace him, but Langley didn't pressure him enough, only throwing three shots on net before the second was over. Kevin Crowley and Curtis Dickson would round out scoring in the second, and leave New West with a cushy 7-2 lead.

The final period would be a meltdown of sorts for the Thunder; obviously frustrated, Langley took four penalties, most notably Hodgkinson taking a five minute roughing call for throwing around five solid punches on Jordan Howes after he dove through the crease and threw a shot on net. I can only assume there were words exchanged between the old teammates after the previous goals that were scored on him, and Hodgkinson had simply had enough of it. Dickson would score three goals in the final period bringing his point total to six (5,1), and New West would have thirteen players register at least a point on the night.