Last night the Langley Thunder faced off against their rivals the Coquitlam Adanacs. The Thunder were looking for a win to keep pace with the top teams in the league while Coquitlam were looking for back to back wins for the first time this season along with trying to move up in the standings.
Coquitlam drew first blood in this game as Daryl Veltman scored to give the Adanacs the 1-0 lead. The Adanacs during the first period were successful in slowing the game down and keeping Langey high powered offense under control. The Thunder would tie the game up at the 15 minute mark of the first period as Athan Iannucci found the back of the net. At the end of one period of play the score was tied 1-1.
In the second period the Langley offense was able to break through early as Brett Baron scored on a feed from Alex Turner putting the Thunder in front 2-1. The Thunder would continue to push the pace and would find another goal at the eight minute mark in the first as Tyler Melnyk scored putting the Thunder in front 3-1. Late in the second period Langley would head to the power play after Matthew MacGrotty took a high sticking penalty. The Thunder tried to push their advantage but it was Couitlam who strike as Matt Delmonico scored shorthanded to make the score 3-2. Langley would take the lead into the third period.
In the third period Langley struck quickly to extend their lead to two as Quinn Smith scored to extend Langley’s lead to 4-2. Langley would continue to press forward as Tom Johnson scored to put the Thunder in front 5-2. Coquitlam would get a goal back as Matt Delmonico scored his second shorthanded goal of the game to make it 5-3. Langley would not let Coquitlams offense get going as they shut the Adanacs out for the rest of the period and held on for the 5-3 victory.
The Thunder were able to win this game thanks to their defense as they held Brett Hickey to just one assist all game. With Hickey being unable to create offense the Adanacs had no answer for the Langley attack and crumbled. The Thunder did well to find offense even with Athan Iannucci and Alex Turner being limited as Tom Johnson stepped up with three points on the night and helped to power the Langley offense. With the win Langley moves into a three way tie for second in the WLA.
