It wasn't a weekend to remember for the Burnaby Express through the Interior.
After dropping the opening game Friday 7-2 in Salmon Arm for Burnaby's first regulation loss of the season, the trip continued Saturday in Trail where the Express fell 5-4 in overtime. Then the trip wrapped up Sunday in Vernon where the Express fell 4-2 to the defending RBC Cup champion Vipers.
Saturday in Trail, Burnaby played without captain Dylan Herold who was suspended for this one after being involved in a second fight while Matt Ius was in a fight of his own.
Saturday, the Express faced a Trail Smoke Eaters club that had just one win on the season heading into the game. The Smokies opened the scoring less than 6 minutes in when Tye Lewis split the Express defence, Harrison May poked the puck away, but Paul Mailey and followed up and poked the rebound home.
The opening 20 minutes wasn't the greatest for the Express. They were sloppy coming out of their own end. However, in spite of the poor start, the Express found a way to pull even before the period was done. Garrick Perry muscled the puck to the front of the net and Matt Ius found the loose puck in the crease and poked it home.
The 2nd period which has been Burnaby's best period all season saw the club improve their play and they took the lead for the first time 5 minutes into the period as Luke Challier tapped in a pass at the lip of the crease.
Trail tied it up late in the period on a powerplay. The Smokies won the faceoff in the Express zone, Graeme Strukoff's point shot didn't get through but bounced right to Travis St. Denis who whipped it past Harrison May.
The game didn't remain tied for long, with the Express on a powerplay in the final minute of the period, they got the puck to the net and Rich Manley had a great chance in front, he was robbed on his initial shot by Garrett Beckwith who got most of Manley's shot, but Manley remained persistent and banged the rebound home to give the Express a 3-2 lead heading into the 3rd period.
At this point through 40 minutes, the feeling was that the game was far from over. Trail at this point was gaining confidence and knew they had a shot heading into the final frame.
Trail pulled even 6 minutes into the third period as Justin Brown's screen shot from the right circle beat Harrison May.
6 minutes later, the Smokies took the lead. Chris Van Dyunhoven pinched at the Trail line and didn't get the puck allowing the Smoke Eaters to break away on a 2 on 1. Nick Sander's shot was stopped, but former Surrey Eagle Darnell Dyck put home the rebound to put Trail in the lead.
Now, the Express were in real danger of falling for a 2nd consecutive game. The Express did manage to tie the game in the final minute with an extra attacker. Brad Reid found the puck lying in the crease and roofed a backhand over Beckwith to tie the game at 4 and send it to overtime.
It was Burnaby's 2nd overtime game of the season. They dropped their home opener 4-3 in overtime to Powell River.
Midway through the 4 on 4 overtime the game was decided, Tye Lewis picked up the puck in his own zone, skated into the Express zone and fired a laser of a wrist shot over the glove of Harrison May to give Trail just their 2nd win of the season.
Burnaby didn't play their best game on this night. There were numerous players who struggled vs. the Smoke Eaters.
Dylan Herold's absence due to suspension showed how valuable the captain is to this Express team. Alex Petan and Luke Challier both spent time playing in Herold's spot along side Garrick Perry and Matt Ius and Herold's absence limited the effectiveness of the line.
This was the game that on paper appeared to the the most likely for a Burnaby win, but let a great opportunity slip through their hands.
Shots:
Burnaby 34
Trail 39
Powerplays:
Burnaby 1/4
Trail 1/5
3 stars:
3. Justin Brown - Scored the game tying goal in the third period and added an assist.
2. Matt Ius - 1 goal and 2 assists in a losing cause for the Express.
1. Tye Lewis - Set up the opening goal of the game by Paul Mailey and scored the game winning goal in overtime.
The final stop of the weekend trip through the interior was going to be the toughest test of them all. The Express paid a visit to the defending RBC Cup Champion Vernon Vipers.
Both teams were playing their third game in 3 nights. And for Vernon, they would be a little testy after suffering their first loss in 19 games dating back to last seasons playoffs the night before vs. Penticton by a score of 2-0.
Penticton used a passive trap and patient game and scored on the few chances they had as they were able to manage only 15 shots. The Express would need to play a similar type game on this day if they wanted to put themselves in a position to try and knock off the Vipers.
The strategy was working out well for Burnaby in the opening period. The game was scoreless after 20 minutes. Both teams had their chances. Alex Petan had 2 quality chances in the opening period.
Both teams also rang shots off the crossbar. Matt Ius did so late in the period for Burnaby and Adam Thompson did the same for Vernon a few minutes later.
Shots were 11-4 in favour of Vernon after the opening 20 minutes.
The Express were shorthanded early in the 2nd period with Rich Manley being called for boarding. The Express killed off the penalty and caught a break when the penalty had expired, the Vipers played the puck back to the Burnaby blueline, but the pass split the Viper defenceman and came right to Manley coming out of the penalty box and he went in on the breakaway and deked past Graeme Gordon to give the Express a 1-0 lead.
The goal for Manley extended his point streak. He has a point in all 9 Express games this season.
The Express came close to grabbing a 2-0 lead. Brad Reid had a glorious chance in front of the Vernon net, Reid deked to the backhand and appeared to have Gordon beat, but somehow while lying on his stomach, Gordon lifted his right leg to rob the Express forward. It was one of the most spectacular saves i've ever seen in the BCHL.
Burnaby continued their disciplined defensive game throughout the 2nd period. Vernon finally broke through in the final minute of the period as Dan Nycholat from the left point put the puck towards the goal and Dylan Walchuk at the side of the net tipped the puck into the open side to tie the game with a powerplay goal at 19:51.
Not a bad spot to be in for Burnaby all even up with the Vipers through 2 periods of play.
That set up what would turn out to be a wild third period.
Vernon took the lead for the first time as a shot from the left side was stopped by Harrison May, the rebound was lying in the goal crease for what seemed like an eternity and finally Mike Collins poked it home to give Vernon their first lead of the game.
Now the Express were in tough as Vernon is a very difficult team to play against once they have the lead. They're very good at shutting the game down.
Moments after Collins' tally, Luke Challier was called for boarding and the Express needed their biggest penalty kill of the game.
During the powerplay came one of the first wild moments of the third period, Adam Thompson drilled a one timer from the point off the glass behind Harrison May and shattering it forcing a lengthy delay.
The maintenance crew then went to work replacing the glass and after a few minutes it appeared they completed their job and the game would resume. Nope. Only after it was installed, the crew realized they replaced the shattered glass with a piece of glass that was a few inches too short and needed to replace the new glass with a piece that was the correct height. Once, the crew installed a proper piece of glass, the zamboni resurfaced the ice to make sure no small pieces of glass were lying on the ice.
The delay lasted approximately 25-30 minutes.
Once the game resumed, the craziness continued, the Express killed off the penalty to Challier and moments later Challier tied the game. Konrad Sander's shot from the left wing rang off the post and the rebound bounced out to the circle then off Challier and into the net to pull the Express even at 10:42.
The game didn't remained tied for long thanks to another wild goal. 1:01 later the Vipers restored their lead off a scramble in front of Harrison May and in that scramble Jonathan Milhouse poked it home.
Now that Vernon had the lead, they weren't going to give it up. At 5 on 5 the Vipers deployed their trap and really limited Burnaby's chances giving them trouble coming out of their own zone.
The Express did have a pair of powerplays to attempt to pull even. Brad Reid had another great chance on the first powerplay and was again robbed from the high slot by Gordon. That would turn out to be the Express best chance to tie the game.
Vernon rounded out the scoring in the final minute with the Express on one last powerplay. Mike Collins intercepted a d to d pass at the blueline and sent the puck down the ice to seal the win for Vernon with the empty net goal.
Final score:
Vernon 4 Burnaby 2.
Sure the loss for Burnaby was their third straight on this trip. But the Express can come away from the loss to the Vipers with the knowledge that they can play with the league's elite. Sure it wasn't pretty, but the Express did an excellent job staying to the defensive game plan allowing them to have a chance to win. If it were not for Graeme Gordon robbing Brad Reid twice in the game, the Express would have at least taken the Vipers to overtime.
Burnaby's defensive play kept Vernon to the perimeter of the ice for the most part limiting their quality scoring chances.
Shots:
Burnaby 20
Vernon 34
Powerplays:
Burnaby 0/3
Vernon 1/4
3 stars:
3. Rich Manley - Opened the scoring with a breakaway goal in the 2nd period.
2. Jonathan Milhouse - Scored the game winning goal and added an assist for the Vipers.
1. Mike Collins - 2 goals and 1 assist for the victorious Vipers.
Up next:
The Express head back on the road for another 3 games this coming weekend in Nanaimo, Victoria and Powell River.
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