New West Clouds Thunder

Submitted by League Reporter, Jen Mutas

On Wednesday night the Salmonbellies were getting the wood floor at Queens Park ready for the upcoming Prospects Game happening on Canada Day, when they hosted their final regular season game against the Langley Thunder.

The last time these two teams met on May 28th New West would walk away from the Langley Events Center with a very comfortable 13-2 win, not allowing the Thunder to score for over fifty minutes after their two goals in the first period. New West would continue their shutout streak tonight, not allowing a goal until the second period. The 'Bellies would get to Thunder goalie Devon Winters early in the game, with four goals in six minutes including markers from Eric Lewthwaite, Justin Salt, and two from Brandon Goodwin. After the goals, Winters would perk up and make some good saves but looked unsettled after New West pumped eighteen shots on him in the first twenty. With just a minute left in the period, Langley would be forced to play the rest of the game without their coach, after being called for a technical foul and then getting tossed after complaining about the call.

Going almost seventy five minutes since their last goal against the 'Bellies, the Thunder would finally get the ball past Brandon Mulligan when Colton Porter made Langley's thirteenth shot count, and put some much needed energy back into his team. Reegan Comeault would soon follow after getting a feed from Andrew Bromley and Ryan Harwood, but New West was on a roll of their own including a short handed and regular strength goal from Curtis Dickson, and two goals for Kevin Crowley as well. The 'Bellies would head into the final period seven goals ahead of their opponents, scoring four of those goals in the last three minutes of the second.

New West would continue their offensive assault on the Thunder into the final period; Crowley and Goodwin would complete their hat tricks, and Tyler Digby would add two goals to his two assists. Greg Mahony would score for the Thunder when the teams were playing four on four, followed by Porter and Brendan Gibson capitalizing with the man advantage. Even with Langley's late advances, there is a reason New West is the highest scoring team in the league and they politely reminded the Thunder of that tonight. The 15-6 win would give the Salmonbellies a 7-3-1 record at home for the 2009 regular season, and set the tone for the rematch happening this Thursday at the Langley Events Centre.