Islanders Clash with Thunder

Submitted by League Reporter, Jen Mutas

In arguably the best game of the 2009 BCJALL season thus far, Delta and Langley threw down on Saturday night and the end result was something that hadn't happened in the Junior 'A' League in just under four years.

The Thunder rolled into Delta with GM Brock Rose behind the bench after Jamie Scott resigned following the loss to New West on Thursday night at the Langley Events Center. Just as they did Thursday, the Thunder came out firing with a goal from Colton Porter, and two power play goals from Greg Mahony and Richard Willmott. Delta would get on the board thanks to Mike Blondin putting his first of the year past Ray Hodgkinson, but would go to the break trailing 3-1 to the visiting Thunder.

The Islanders started the second with about four minutes left of Colten Hayes roughing penalty, and wasted no time with the man advantage. Michael Berekoff and Drew Duncan would capitalize on that penalty, but Brendan Gibson picked a great time to score his first of the year in a Thunder uniform beating Blake Duncan short handed. Willmott would score his second goal in the middle frame and it was hands down the best goal of the night. He was pressing Islander goalie Duncan which resulted in a shaky pass to his defender, and after more persistent checking from Langley the ball ended up back to Willmott who was all alone standing on the crease and made Duncan pay. Carlton Schuss and Jason Jones would score for Delta, but again they would go to the break down by one goal to the Thunder.

With such a tight game both teams came out with serious intensity in the final period; Langley realizing they needed to stay out of the penalty box in order to make it out with a win, and Delta realizing they had to crack Hodgkinson. Schuss would tie the game at six, winding down the shot clock and getting high sticked with no call in the process, but Sean Messenger would catch the Islanders on a slow change and streak in hard, showing great patience on a pump fake goal for the go ahead. The intensity wouldn't end there as Berekoff would once again tie the game for Delta; Langley almost had the golden goal with a minute and a half to go, but Willmott's goal was called off for crease play so overtime was needed.

The severity of the overtime period was enough to make the fans sweat, as once again the teams traded offensive chances and great saves from their goalies. Gibson would keep his scoring touch alive, putting in his second of the night by leaping over a Delta defender and hammering the ball past Duncan's right shoulder with six minutes to go in OT. Not to be outdone, Jones would also score his second of the night in OT for the Islanders, managing to catch Hodgkinson in a rare moment out of position. Delta would take control in the final few minutes of the extra frame, with Berekoff getting called for a crease goal with 35 seconds left; but causing the most sweat for Langley was Schuss ringing one off the post with just one second left to go.

It had been 1456 days since the last tie in the BCJALL all the way back on June 2nd 2005, and funny enough, also involving Langley (Surrey) as they battled the Lakers for top spot. Tonight's game wasn't for top spot, but it certainly had the intriguing passion and intensity of a playoff game or top spot tilt.

Once again keeping the Thunder on par with their opposing team was the incredible play of goalie Ray Hodgkinson who stood on his head most of the night, but most impressively in the third and overtime period. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I will reiterate the fact that he faced 61 shots tonight- 13 in the OT period alone. Shots came naturally for the Islanders with Jason Jones and Carlton Schuss collaborating for 35 of Delta's 61 shots, resulting in nine combined points. Although Langley had a much improved performance from their Thursday night drubbing at the hands of the 'Bellies, their weakness was their time spent in the penalty box. Half of the Islander goals came on the power play and it's fair to say this game could have resulted in a regulation win for Langley if they played more disciplined ball; specifically Colten Hayes who had 11 PIM's.