Last night the New Westminster Salmonbellies opened their 2014 season as they hosted their rivals the Langley Thunder. The Thunder on the other hand were coming off of a loss to the Coquitlam Adanacs heading into their battle with New Westminster.
The Salmonbellies struck first as newly named captain Curtis Hodgson led by example and got his team ahead 1-0. The first period was relatively quiet as the goalies for both teams stood tall. The Salmonbellies though would leave the first period with a 2-1 lead after Colton Clark scored for the Salmonbellies.
New Westminster continued to roll in the second period as Eric Lewthwaite scored to put the Salmonbellies ahead 3-1. The Thunder would come roaring back Tom Johnson kicked off the comeback followed by goals from Brett Baron and a pair from Athan Iannucci as the Thunder took a 5-3 lead. The Salmonbellies would score late in the period the make it a 5-4 game as the second period ended.
The Thunder continued to pressure the Salmonbellies in the third period as Matt Leveque and Alex Turner scored to put the Salmonbellies ahead 7-4.
The Salmonbellies though would not be denied their first victory of the season as Martin Cummings kicked off a six-goal scoring streak for the New Westminster. The Salmonbellies found themselves ahead 10-7 with three minutes left in the game. New Westminster would hold on as the Thunder tried to battle back and force overtime. The Salmonbellies massive third period ensured their first victory of the season.
The Salmonbellies played a great game tonight as they dug deep to come back and bury the Thunder thanks to strong performances from Jordan McBride and Martin Cummings.
The Thunder need to go back to the drawing board and figure out what they need to fix as they will want to quickly stop this two-game slide before it gets worse.
