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Richmond Sockeyes Jr. A team on the road.

Photo courtesy Richmond Sockeyes

Consistency and discipline equal success

By Steve Erickson

Published 10:50 PST, Wed November 6, 2024

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Coming off an impressive 9 to 1 win over the Surrey Knights the Sockeyes would take their winning streak on the road playing against the expansion Coastal Tsunami for a pair of games in Gibsons.

As with most expansion clubs, it’s hard to know their game plan either on offense or defense let alone how they have studied their game video.

Credit has to be given to the Coastal Tsunami for reaching out to the community to fill the seats for the game and in conversation with some of the Sockeyes, they were not just impressed but shocked.

Friday’s game saw the Sockeyes start Mathias Hasselmann who faced 22 shots stopping 20 shots, while the Tsunami went with Nick Peters who was pounded with 82 shots stopping 79 shots.

The game itself was a spirited match-up with eight penalties assessed to Richmond and nine to the Tsunami.

Beaudin collected his ninth goal of the season while on the power play at 10:18 of the first period only to have Nathan Hughes get his first of the season while also on the power play.

The game remained tied until 14:19 of the second period when Michael McIntyre notched his first goal while also on the power play giving Richmond a 2-1 lead after two periods.

Beaudin got his 10th goal of the season and second of the game at 3:27 allowing them to hold a 3-1 lead but only until 17:58 when Istvanffy pulled them with one and held on for a 3-2 win.

Game two of the match-up saw the Sockeyes send Armaan Kaila in net facing 38 shots stopping 36 while the Tsunami started Finn Morrison who faced 35 shots turning aside 33.

The teams traded goals in the first period with the Tsunami opening the scoring followed with Sockeyes captain Teo Lin who evened up the contest at 12:44 wrapping up the first 20 minutes with the game tied.

Lin got his 9th goal of the season at 2:52 only to have Nottingham grab a power play marker ending the second period again tied but the third period saw Nicholas Noren get a shorthanded goal sending the Sockeyes home winning both games

Playing a pair of games on the road took its toll on the Sockeyes’ team returning home having to recover from injuries. They would face off against the Ice Hawks with Sockeyes’ Oliver Read playing a full sixty minutes facing 44 shots, turning aside 38 shots while Delta Ice Hawks went with Merik Erickson who stopped 34 of the 36 shots he faced.

The first period saw Delta jump ahead with a 3-2 lead with Noren (13) and Shin (8) scoring for the Sockeyes only to have Delta grab a goal in the second period, and two goals in the third period while Sockeyes’ Charlie Swartz got his third of the season.

While Read failed to win a game star he was named third star for the broadcast on Eastlink TV for his impressive performance. Returning home saw the Sockeyes’ pull out a 6-3 win over Mission City followed by an 8-4 win over the Grandview Steelers.

Scoring isn’t an issue for the Sockeyes as they manage 23 goals while allowing 17 in the above games; but winning means playing a full sixty minutes as a unit plus getting healthy bodies back into the line-up.