Salmonbellies and Islanders entertain on a Tuesday night

While most teams in the league are 3 or 4 games into the season, the New Westminster Salmonbellies played their second game of the season on Tuesday night as they took on the Delta Islanders in what ended up being a game you wouldn’t want to miss. Unfortunately for the referees, it was going to be a long night.

The first period saw 48 penalty minutes, 32 of them going towards the Islanders. The Salmonbellies got on the board first when AdamDickson scored just over 3 minutes into the period. The ‘Bellies got their first powerplay shortly after and JohnnyPearson capitalized to give the ‘Bellies a 2-0 lead.

However, the Islanders quickly evened the game up within the next 2 minutes with goals from TreLeclaire and JonPhillips. The game then turned into a sea-saw battle. The Salmonbellies went up by 2 again, but that lead quickly disappeared when ChaseFraser and Leclaire scored a minute apart with 2:23 left in the period. The crowd really got into the game when the mayhem ensued with 5:48 left in the first period. Salmonbellies’ CarterDickson received an unsportsmanlike minor and misconduct while Islanders’ ConnorDavidson and Spencer Bromley also received the same penalties.

With 38 seconds left in the period, EvanMessenger gave the Islanders their first lead of the night, making it 5-4.

The second period was a little quieter in the penalty box, but there were still 5 calls made. What wasn’t quieter was the crowd. A total of 14 goals were scored. The ‘Bellies evened the game 27 seconds into the second period, but the Islanders regained their lead scoring 2 goals in 25 seconds apart.

Both teams exchanged goals during the 4-minute mark of the period, but then the ‘Bellies scored 3 straight with the help of ConnorRobinson netting two and Pearson to give the ‘Bellies the lead 9-8.

At the halfway point of the second period, the Islanders tied the game up and then scored on the powerplay, which was an unsportsmanlike bench minor, but what is the ‘Bellies loss, is the Islanders gain as they took the lead 10-9. 

The final 3 minutes of the period witnessed another bench minor, but this time to the Islanders and also saw 4 goals, with each team scoring 2 each, making it 12-11 Islanders.

The third period proved to be a lot of the same, but of course, there can only be one winner. The Islanders scored an early one when Fraser scored 58 seconds in to give the Islanders a bit of a cushion. Messenger then scored 4 minutes later to make it a 14-11 game, but the Salmonbellies were not giving up just yet. After alternating goals from each team, it was 16-13 with 3:34 left in the game.

The Salmonbellies still continued to push as Robinson scored with 3:04 left and then with the extra attacker, Robinson scored his 4th of the game with 2:31 remaining. Unfortunately, there was just not enough in the tank to tie the game as the Islanders win 16-15.

 

THREE STARS OF THE GAME

1. Delta – Evan Messenger – 2 goals, 5 assists 

2. New Westminster – Connor Robinson – 4 goals, 3 assists

3. Delta – Tre Leclaire – 3 goals, 3 assists

 

The Salmonbellies will only get one day off as they take on the Burnaby Lakers on Thursday night and the Islanders will take on the Nanaimo Timbermen at home on Saturday evening.