November hasn’t been terribly kind to the Langley Rivermen who have dropped three straight and five of their last six. But a win tonight over the Salmon Arm Silverbacks could be a big turning point. The 14-9-1-2 Rivermen enter the matchup three points behind the Mainland division leading Spruce Kings while the 13-9-1-3 Apes come in as one of the top scoring teams in the entire league, but also on a bit of a slump losing their last two.
The Rivermen definitely haven’t had trouble scoring goals like early in the month with 11 in their last three games. But poor starts and defensive zone breakdowns have led to 22 against.
On the plus side, Marcus Vela continues to ride his hot streak with a big goal last night (and a first period fight, his first in the BCHL) and now has seven points in his last seven games. Gage Torrel has also been a big boost to the lineup with points in each of his first three games in a Rivermen sweater, assisting on James Robinson’s first period power play goal.
The Rivermen do have the health advantage as well tonight against Salmon Arm with several Silverbacks out due to illness or injury. Robinson had a big impact in his first game back in the lineup while Kevan Kilistoff and Will Cook also played well winning a number of key puck battles in the Prince George zone leading to scoring opportunities. If the Riv have better timing and are able to capitlize on those chances, they should have a much better result tonight.
Head-to-Head
Tonight’s game is the first meeting of the season between the Silverbacks and the Rivermen who have met just three times in the past while Langley holds the all-time head-to-head series 2-0-1. Last season the Riv took both meetings by a combined 8-4 margin.
Keys
Start With a Jump: The Rivermen need to take advantage of a bus-weary road team making their way to the Langley Events Centre with hard hits and fast feet off the opening face off.
Win Along the Boards: Despite losing last night to Prince George, the Rivermen did a great job collectively of winning puck battles along the boards especially in the offensive zone which led to a key power play.
Puck drop tonight at the LEC is 7:15 on Hockey Fights Cancer night. You can watch live at http://bchl.fasthockey.com/login.php or listen at http://mixlr.com/langleyrivermenhockey
Langley Rivermen Junior "A" Hockey Blog 