U18 Canadians Split Two Games vs. Thompson

The U18 AAA Greater Vancouver Canadians split a pair of games against the Thompson Blazers at the Richmond Olympic Oval over the weekend, as they ended a five-game losing skid. 

On Saturday, Alan Peregrym stopped 29 shots, including two breakaways in the second period when he made a total of 11 saves, as the Canadians won 7-4 on Saturday. Peregrym’s big stops sparked the Canadians, who were down 3-1 throughout most of second period before they scored the next six goals to rally past the Blazers. 

Seven different players scored for GVC, with Vlad Ursache opening the scoring just 1:10 into the game. After the Blazers scored the next three goals, the game turned late in the second when Luca Martyniuk scored with 1:37 left to make it 3-2. Kaden Meyer’s tying goal came just nine seconds into the third, and then Helius Guan put GVC ahead to stay with 12:21 left. Hudson May made it 5-3 with 11:45 remaining, and Cohen Smith scored with 3:57 left to put the game away. John Bethell’s empty-netter made it 7-3 with 2:35 left, before the Blazers got the final goal with 1:14 to go. 

The win was the Canadians’ second in their last 11 games. 

On Sunday, the Canadians fired 42 shots on goal, including 17 in the final period, but were unable to complete the weekend sweep as Thompson rallied for a 6-3 victory. Joshua Mytton, Erik Hoemberg, and Sorash Ramlal scored for GVC as the two teams were tied 3-3 after two periods. The Blazers, however, scored on the power play with 12:41 left in regulation to go up 4-3, and another goal a minute later as well as an empty-netter with 1:48 left ended the Canadians’ bid for the series sweep. Liam Leslie was busy in goal for GVC, making 37 saves. 

The seventh-place U18 Canadians (9-12-3-2) will take on the sixth-place Vancouver NE Chiefs (10-12-2-2) on Jan. 18-19 in a home-and-home series, with the first game at the Scotia Barn at 3:30 p.m. and the second at the Richmond Oval at 11:15 a.m. Both games can be seen on playfullscreen.com.