Flames offence clicking, but defence is suspect

Through a pair of weekend games the Ridge Meadows Flames scored a bunch of goals, coming away with a split.

Through a pair of weekend games the Ridge Meadows Flames scored a bunch of goals, but came away with a split.

“Offensively, we scored 11 goals this weekend. You should have two wins when you do that,” said Jamie Fiset, head coach and general manager of the Junior B team. “At this point in the season, we need to have better consistency on our back end.”

On Saturday, the Flames beat the last-place Port Moody Panthers, who have only 11 points in 33 games, 7-4.

Nolan Wallinger had two goals and an assist, Paul Piluso and Matt Bissett each had a goal and an assist, Travis Oddy and Adam Bartsch had two helpers apiece and the other scorers were Marco Ballarin, Alexander Smith and Michael Nolan.

Fiset was impressed with Wallinger’s effort, as he has transitioned from a tough guy with 126 minutes in penalties last year to a player who is making his contributions on the scoreboard.

“His line was buzzing all night.”

Friday at Planet Ice, Ridge hosted the North Delta Devils and lost 8-4. Bissett scored twice and Nolan and Ballarin each had a goal.

This Friday, rather than hosting their usual home game, the Flames are in Abbotsford to take on the Pilots at MSA Arena at 7:30 p.m.

• Rustlers: The Ridge Meadows peewee A1 team will host Richmond on Friday at Planet Ice, 7 p.m., in place of the Flames

 

All-star game

Monday night the Flames sent four players to the Pacific International Junior Hockey League all-star game at the Burnaby Winter Club: playmaker Sean Pesut, leading scorer Matt Bissett, two-way defenceman Reece Rivard and veteran goaltender Wes McLeod.

Three quarters of the PIJHL schedule has been played, with the Flames having played 33 games out of 44, and virtually locked into third place in the Harold Brittain Conference with a record of 11-16-4-2.

Maple Ridge News