by Eric Welsh – The Progress
Sean Gulka’s goal midway through the third period proved to be the winner as the Langley Rivermen doubled the Chiefs 2-1 Friday night at Prospera Centre in Chilliwack.
The Rivermen put the first puck in the net at 4:59 of period one. Abbotsford’s Devin Leduc sniped one from a step or two above the right faceoff dot, whipping the puck past Chiefs keeper Daniel Chenard.
Chilliwack got that one back 4:59 into period two. With Langley’s Brady Berger in the penalty box and his team on the power play, Chiefs forward Kaden Pickering flew down the right wing and drove hard to the net. As he was getting hauled down by a Riverman defender, Pickering got a shot off from his belly. Langley keeper Braedon Fleming left the puck loose in the blue paint where Michael Lombardi jammed it in for his first BCHL goal.
Fleming was at the center of a unique penalty call later in the period, one that no one in the press box could remember seeing.
With a delayed penalty coming up to Chilliwack’s Harrison Blaisdell, the goalie darted toward the bench. But as he crossed center ice heading for the open gate, he played the puck, which apparently gets you two minutes for being an ineligible player.
Who knew?
The Chiefs had a golden chance to do more damage with the man advantage in the back half of the middle frame when Nicholas Ponak (roughing) and Eric Butte (high sticking) found their way to the sin bin. Chilliwack had a five-on-three for 45 seconds, and because Butte’s penalty was a double minor they had 5:15 of uninterrupted PP time.
But they couldn’t capitalize and the teams skated into the third period tied 1-1.
Stuff like that always seems to come back to cost a team, and sure enough the Rivermen scored the game winning goal 7:47 into the final frame. Chenard went behind his net to play a dump in and put it into the right corner where Eric Butte was waiting. As Chenard frantically tried to scramble back into his crease, Butte passed to Sean Gulka in the slot and he buried it into the unguarded cage.
Chilliwack pressed hard in the closing minutes, but Fleming came up big and Langley escaped to the final whistle with a big divisional win.
Fleming was the game’s second star, sandwiched between Chiefs Lombardi (first star) and Calverley (third).
The Energy Player of the Game was Chilliwack’s Tommy Lee.
His Chiefs are in Langley tomorrow night for the back half of this home and home series.
