On Sunday the Maple Ridge Burrards (1-1) take on the New Westminster Salmon Bellies (1-1) The Burrards are coming off their first win of the season as the defeated Coquitlam in overtime Saturday night 14-12. While the Salmon Bellies are coming off a 10-7 loss to the Victoria Shamrocks.
Against Coquitlam the Burrards showed that their offense is not to be underestimated as they scored 14 goals on perhaps the toughest defense in the WLA. The Burrards offense has been powered by the return of Curtis Dickson who missed most of the 2012 season. In 2013 though Dickson has not missed a step as shown by his 10 point performance against Coquitlam on Saturday night. The Burrards have also got strong performances from Jarrett Davis and Joel Dalgarno. Expect the Burrards to bring their best against the Salmon Bellies and try to prove that they are a contender. The Burrards though will need to tighten up their goaltending and defense as they cannot expect to score 12 goals every game to overcome Chris Levis weak performance. Against the Salmon Bellies the Burrards will need to defend against the Gajic brothers and force the Salmon Bellies to make mistakes.
The Salmon Bellies will be looking to rebound from their first loss of the season. The Salmon Bellies put up a good fight against Victoria but they fell just short. Neil Tyacke has been the Salmon Bellies best player so far this season as he has stood on his head and kept the Salmon Bellies in games thanks to his strong play. The Salmon Bellies have got great performances from Jordan McBride and Alex Gajic. Against the Burrards the Salmon Bellies will want to get constant pressure on Chris Levis and try to build an early lead. If the Salmon Bellies can take advantage of the Burrards weak goaltending they should be able to win this game.
This will be tight game between two very even teams. In the end though Neil Tyacke will be the difference as his great goal tending will frustrate the Burrards while the Salmon Bellies will take advantage of the Burrards weak goal tending.
