Langley’s James Rahe had a hat trick in game two of the Minto Cup, giving the Coquitlam Jr. Adanacs a 2-0 lead in the Minto Cup.
The best-of-seven Canadian junior A national championship is being played at the Langley Events Centre between the Adanacs and Ontario’s Six Nations Arrows.
The Adanacs had rallied from behind in game one, scoring the only three goals of the third period to win 7-6.
Coquitla’s Eli McLaughlin scored twice in a 1:44 span before captain Wes Berg notched the winner with nine minutes to play. It was the Adanacs first lead of the game and they had been playing from behind after Six Nations scored eights seconds in.
Goaltender Pete Dubenski earned first star honours, stopping 43 of the 49 shots he faced.
Quinn Powless led Six Nations with a goal and four assists while Johnny Powless had a goal and three assists.
Berg led the Adanacs with three goals and an assist.
Game two saw Coquitlam carry over their momentum from game one as they controlled from start to finish.
The Adanacs controlled most of the game and continued their strong special teams play with two powerplay goals and a shorthanded marker.
“Our discipline was key”, said Coquitlam head coach Neil Doddridge. “When you’re discipline and you cash in on the powerplay, it makes a world of difference”.
Coquitlam held the Six Nations offense to only three goals after forty minutes.
“Dubenski was on again tonight and our defense was locked in”, said Doddridge. “It makes it hard for an offense to click when the defense is playing tight and aggressive”.
“We started off really well which is something we rarely do”, said forward Tyler Pace, the game’s first star.
“I wasn’t satisfied with my performance last night, so today was my turn to step up”.
Pace finished with five points, as did Berg. McLaughlin had two goals and two assists.
For Six Nations, this marks the first time all season the team has lost back-to-back games. The Arrows offensive struggles continue, scoring twelve goals in two games.
“It was just a poor overall effort”, said Arrows head coach Marshall Abrams. “We came out flat and they jumped all over us”.
The Arrows were outshot 56-35 and took fifteen penalties compared to Coquitlam’s ten.
“Once again we showed our inexperience in the finals”, said Abrams. “We took too many penalties and it’s hard to play like that, especially when you’re down”.
“It’ll be nice to take a day off tomorrow”, said Abrams. “It’ll give the boys a chance to wipe their heads clean and put these two games behind them”.
Game three of the series is Tuesday (Aug. 19) at 8 p.m. and game four is Aug. 20. If necessary, game five would be Aug. 21.
Tickets are available at www.ticketmaster.ca or at the LEC box office.
