Home-ice advantage is back in favour of the Langley Rivermen.
After settling for a split in games one and two at the Langley Events Centre — and losing control of home-ice advantage — the Rivermen went into the South Surrey Arena and used a 6-3 game three victory on March 7 to wrest back control in the best-of-seven BCHL Mainland Division semifinal series.
The Eagles did respond with a 7-5 victory the next night to tie the series back up at two games apiece.
In game three, Surrey was up 1-0 on a Nathan Renouf goal early in the first period. But Langley scored three times in the second period and then three more in the third to lead 6-1. The Eagles added a pair of late goals for the final 6-3 score.
Matt Ustaski scored twice and added an assist, while Zach Urban, Jakob Reichert and Kevan Kilistoff each had a goal and an assist for Langley.
Darien Craighead had the other Rivermen goal while Brock Crossthwaite stopped 28 shots.
Matthew Dawson led the Eagles with a goal and two helpers while Chase McMurphy had one goal and one assist.
Game four saw Surrey use a potent power play which struck for four goals on nine chances.
The Eagles were up 2-0 after one and stretched the lead to 4-0 before Kilistoff got the Rivermen on the board. And after Surrey made it a 5-1 game, Reichert and Ustaski cut the lead to two prior to intermission.
Two more power-play goals for Surrey made it 7-3 midway through the third and Mitch McLain and Chris Forney tallied late for the 7-5 final.
Philippe Johansson led the way for Surrey with three goals and five points while Danton Heinen had four assists.
Ustaski leads all playoff scorers with six goals and nine points in the four games. He has found the back of the net in all four contests.
