Shorthanded Sockeyes splash past Flames

It was a battle of the best and worst of their respective conferences when the Sockeyes hosted the Ridge Meadows Flames.

It was a short bench for both teams; the Flames had three players out to suspension. The Sockeyes were worse for wear as they had to play without three of their most potent goal scorers. Quinton Blois and Mac Colasimone were both out for injuries, while Troy Kaczynski was serving the first of a two-game suspension he earned with a check from behind against the Ice Hawks last Thursday.

Despite having the league’s worst road power-play, the Flames capitalised on their first man-advantage of the game. With Sutherland in the box for roughing, Boston Colley put home a rebound chance past Alalouf to open the scoring.

The Flames extended their lead in the 2nd period, when Halen Cordoni ripped up the left wing and sniped Alalouf top-left.

The Sockeyes power-play converted when Jordan andrews beat Kurt Klimek on a nifty feed from Trevor Lima. This brought Richmond within a goal, but only for a moment. The Flames rushed back up up the ice and Dale Howell finished it off to retake the two-goal lead.

That was it for Alalouf’s night, who allowed 3 goals on 16 shots.

Kurt Russell came into the game and held the Sockeyes in the game until Jake Wozney put a backhand from in tight upstairs to put the Sockeyes within one before the period expired.

With a scramble in front of the Flames net in the third, the puck squeaked back to the point. J. Andrews took a slapshot that went five-hole on Klimek to tie the game up at 3-3.

Sockeyes put heavy pressure on Klimek throughout the final 40 minutes but the Flames’ goaltender was on his game. He made two huge saves on clean breakaways from Brodie Crawford and Andrew Bissett to keep the game even.

Klimek ran into trouble when a scramble in front knocked his stick loose. With a defender’s stick in hand, a shot from Ryan Jones deflected off a Flames defender and past Klimek to put the Sockeyes up by one.

Wozney scored off a shot that looked a lot more like a pass. It bounced off a defender’s skate and snuck past Klimek to put the game away.

Kurt Russell was fantastic in relief, stopping all 12 shots he faced for the win. J. Andrews and Wozney each tallied twice to carry the shorthanded Sockeyes to victory, 5-3 the final.