Given the recent success of the early part of the season, the Sockeyes had the opportunity to welcome some members of the 1986-87 Richmond Sockeyes who clinched multiple titles, which included the Centennial Cup.  

They won the BC Junior A championship trophy the Mowat Cup, advancing them to play the Alberta Champions for the Doyle Cup then the Abbott Cup over Saskatchewan’s top team setting up a date for the Centennial Cup championship in Humboldt. 

Today’s Sockeyes were privileged to have some of the championship team on hand to watch the Centennial Cup Banner from the 1987 Sockeyes hung up above centre ice that featured a professional on-ice tribute to some members of the team who were on hand.

We had the chance after the first period to chat with Canucks broadcaster Dave Tomlinson who played in 51 regular season games with 43 goals and 65 assists as the leading scorer in addition to collecting 108 points while Jason Phillips was top scorer and Centennial Cup Most Valuable Player (MVP.) 

Once the tribute was concluded it was on with a match-up focused on the return of the “Tunnel Series” in a contest that saw Delta’s Ryder Dunn open the scoring on the power play for the short-lived lead.

Sockeyes Captain Teo Lin got his second and 6th goal of the season tying the game as well as a go-ahead goal and his second of the game at 15:58 on the power play giving the Sockeyes a 2-1 lead after twenty minutes. 

Delta’s Ryder Dunn got his second of the game an unassisted goal at 12:05 tying the game up. After two periods and still a tied game Richmond outshot  Delta by a 30-17 tally.

The third period was all Richmond that saw Dylan Nazareth get his 4th of the season at 1:41 that saw David Yoon getting his 5th of the season that secured the win in a game that saw the Sockeyes outshoot the Ice Hawks by an impressive 43-22 margin. 

Sockeyes Captain Teo Lin was named first star with Ryder Dunn named second and Dylan Nazareth locking up third star as Delta scored one goal on eight power play opportunities to Richmond’s one goal on three power play chances.

The teams would have a return game in Delta at the Sungod Arena a short two nights later, in a match that was a reverse of the previous game that saw a march to the penalty box in the later stages of the game. 

Despite the outcome Richmond continued to dominate in the shot department peppering Delta’s Armaan Kaila with 48 shots while Sockeye’s Massimo Urbani faced 23 stopping 19 in the loss. 

Sockeye’s Dylan Nazareth got his 5th of the season opening the scoring the only goal in the first period in a game that saw Richmond outshoot Delta by a narrow 8-7 margin. 

The second period saw Delta’s Becket Cross get his third and fourth of the season, the first at 1:39 followed by the go-ahead goal at 6:22 allowing the Sockeyes Joshua Mytton to get the equalizer at 11:17 with Richmond outshooting Delta by a 14-6 tally.

The start of the season has been a rough start for a squad that isn’t used to a slow start in the Tom Shaw Conference knowing that this was a game they simply never wanted to drop. Playing aggressive was what they did in the third that saw Colin Jang get his first and second goal of the season fourteen seconds apart in a period that Delta controlled from the opening face-off. In a game that the officials had to control from the opening puck drop saw Delta assessed 16 penalties for 86 minutes while Richmond was assessed 15 penalties for 76 minutes. To no surprise Delta stole all three stars with Armaan Kaila named first star, Colin Jang second and Becket Cross named third star.

Knowing that the pressure was on and teams were coming after the Conference leaders, practice wasn’t easy with the coaching staff reviewing game footage making the necessary changes for the upcoming pair of games. 

The trappers made their first visit to the “Fish Tank” of the season hoping to pull out a win, that saw them have a solid opening first ten minutes only to have it reversed. Sockeyes Dylan Nazareth opened the scoring at 12:16 with Yoon and Huo getting assists on the early start that saw a reverse of the first scoring play with David Yoon getting his 6th of the season being set up from Nazareth and Huo assisting on the play. 

The second was relatively more disciplined than the previous game that saw Sockeyes’ Carter Voll give them a 3-0 lead 12:52 Quinn Orr getting his second of the year ending the second period with a 4-0 lead.

Voll got his second of the game at 16:35 in a period that saw the Trappers pepper several quality shots at Dwayne Paul-Cruz in a period that he played stellar between the pipes, albeit in a losing cause dropping the game 5-0. 

Sockeyes Georgi Milanov stopped all 27 shots he faced earning the shutout of the game knowing that the next game would be one that wouldn’t be as easy as this one.

Up next would be a road trip to the Valley taking on the Jets who wanted nothing better than to harpoon the ‘fish” in a game that saw them open the scoring 1:29 in as Alexander Jacques put the Jets up 1-0. The Sockeyes responded with a pair of power play goals with Uyeda getting his 4th of the year at 3:11 setting up one from Captain Teo Lin at 14:54 finishing off the period with David Yoon getting his 7th of the season holding a 3-1 lead after twenty minutes.

To no surprise the officials had their work cut out for them in the opening twenty minutes, assessing ten penalties to the home squad while the Sockeyes were assessed eight. The Jets responded getting the early marker in the second period at 8:54 pulling within one setting up a pair with Dylan Nazareth doubling up 4-2 in the score at 14:51 followed by Joshua Mytton’s shorthanded goal giving the visitors a 5-2 lead pulling the second period to a close.

The second saw the teams trade a pair of penalties setting up a strong third period from the Sockeyes, getting a pair on the power play allowing one power play marker by the Jets. The Jets utilized both “tenders” while the Sockeyes used the talents of Massimo Urbani who stopped 36 of 39 shots he faced. It’s not often that the visiting team can play in the other team’s arena riding a high, stealing all three stars with Mattias Uyeda 2G/2A) named first star, William Huo (4 Assists) and Captain Teo Lin finishing with 1 goal, 2 assists named third star.

The Sockeyes return home for a match-up against last year’s league champions, Ridge Meadows Flames who are looking to not just hook but sink the Sockeyes with the opening face-off set for 7:00 pm. Please come out and support the Richmond Sockeyes as fans also play an important role.