On Wednesday night another battle in the WLA’s greatest rivalry took place as the New Westminster Salmonbellies travelled to Langley to face the Thunder. The Thunder won the season series between the two teams last year winning two of three games. This game marked the first meeting between these two teams in 2013.
Langley would kick off the scoring as Alex Turner found the back of the net to give Langley an early 1-0 lead. New Westminster would respond in force though as Logan Schuss scored a pair of goals to give the Salmonbellies the 2-1 lead. Langley would once again tie up the game as Kyle Belton scored to make the score 2-2. Before the first period ended Jordan McBride would score to give the Salmonbellies the 3-2 lead at the end of one period of play.
In the second period the Salmonbellies built on their momentum as Ilija Gajic and Jordan McBride would score to give the Salmonbellies a 5-3 lead at the end of the second period. In the second period both goaltenders stepped up as Neil Tyacke made 16 saves in the frame while Brodie Macdonald made 10 saves on 12 shots. In the third period Langley would turn the tables thanks to Alex Turner and Mitch McMichael scoring to tie the game 5-5. New Westminster would not be deterred as Ilija Gajic and Logan Schuss scored consecutively to once again give New Westminster the lead 7-5. As the clock started to tick down in the third the Salmonbellies could not maintain their lead as Jarrett Toll and Shayne Jackson scored to force overtime. In overtime neither team could get the edge as both goalies stood on their heads. In the end the game finished in a 7-7 tie the first tie of the 2013 WLA season.
Both teams appeared evenly matched in this game as they acted like heavyweight fighters with each being able to match each other blow for blow. The story in this game though was the goaltenders. Brodie MacDonald continued his strong play making 43 saves on 50 shots (0.860). MacDonald earned first star honours for his play. Neil Tyacke was no slouch for New Westminster as he stopped 39 of 46 shots on net (0.847).
Langley will next be in action on Friday night when they travel to Burnaby to face the Lakers. While New Westminster will next hit the floor on Thursday night as they face off against the last place Nanaimo Timbermen.
