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Thirty-six saves from Brock Crossthwaite and a pair of second-period goals from Austin Azurdia have the Langley Rivermen one victory away from a spot in the BCHL’s second round of the playoffs.
The Rivermen were hosting the Surrey Eagles in game five of the best-of-seven series on Monday night (March 10) at the Langley Events Centre and the victory gives them a 3-2 series lead.
Game six is tonight (Tuesday) at the South Surrey Arena, and if necessary, game seven would be March 12. That game would be at the George Preston Recreation Centre, however, as the B.C. high school boys 4A basketball championships are being contested in the LEC’s arena bowl.
After a scoreless first period, Azurdia scored twice in a span of less than two minutes to give the Rivermen a lead they would not relinquish.
The first was set up by James Robinson and Kevan Kilistoff, while the latter goal saw Robinson and Zach Urban pick up the helpers.
And that was all the offensive support Crossthwaite would need. He made a dozen saves in the first period and another nine in the second. He saves his best for last as he came up with 15 saves in the final 20 periods.
Tanner Johnson capped off the scoring with an unassisted marker into the empty net.
Langley out-shot Surrey 39-36.
