EXPRESS MIXLR BROADCAST

Saturday, December 15, 2012

EXPRESS FLOODED BY RIVERMEN TOP LINE

The Express couldn't stop the line of Mario Puskarich, James Robinson and Evan Campbell as they had a night to remember as part of a 8-3 win over the Express Friday.

The game started well for the Express. John Siemer opened the scoring after a point shot by Latrell Charleson bounced off the leg of Brandon Morley right to Siemer who swiped the loose puck past James Barr.

From there, Langley's top line took over the hockey game. Mario Puskarich scored his first of the game just over two minutes later as he found a loose puck in the crease and poked it off an Express defender and past Cole Huggins.

James Robinson got his scoring night started late in the first period and he deftly re-directed a shot from the right boards by Evan Campbell through the legs of Cole Huggins.

The line of of Robinson, Puskarich and Campbell were all in on the first two goals of the game for Langley.

Rivermen goaltender James Barr made a number of solid saves on the Express in the first period.

Robinson picked up his second of the game midway through the period. He came down the right wing and snapped a shot which hit the stick of an Express defenceman which handcuffed Cole Huggins and trickled into the net. The goal meant the end of the night early for Cole Huggins for a second straight outing. He was relieved in favour of Daniel Urbani after allowing three goals on twenty one shots.

Robinson's second of the game came shortly after a good chance for Phil Zielonka which he couldn't capitalize on.

It wasn't long before Langley struck again. Derek Sutliffe cut to the Express goal and bumped Daniel Urbani and he wasn't in position to make the save on the rebound shot that Matt Ustaski buried into the open net to give the Rivermen a 4-1 lead.

Phil Zielonka was dangerous all night for the Express. Shooting the puck at every opportunity. He was rewarded finding a loose puck at the side of the Rivermen net and banging home his 16th goal of the season at 12:54.

Seconds after the goal we saw the first fight of the night. And it turned out to be a very spirited affair as captain Mitch Nardi and Mitch McClain dropped the gloves and each got their fair share of big shots in.

The goal and the fight appeared to give the Express some life. They carried the majority of the play to end the second period. They even had a powerplay to end the period but the Express still went into the third period trailing by a pair.

The Express entered the third period looking to build off their strong finish to the second period and try and get back into the game. But it wound up getting worse. A pinch by an Express defenceman wound up proving costly as it led to a two on one and James Robinson kept the puck and wired it over the glove of Daniel Urbani just 32 seconds into the period for his third goal of the night.

Mitchell Fyffe got that goal back for the Express just 17 seconds later.

Then Mario Puskarich finished off his own hat-trick scoring a pair of goals in the third. Then Trevor Cope finished off the scoring for the Rivermen and he fired a wrist shot that had enough to squeak through Urbani.

The Express have one game left before the Christmas break Saturday night when they host the Powell River Kings. 

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