The Langley Rivermen are being pushed to the brink of elimination.
And one more purposeful shove by the rival Chilliwack Chiefs will send the ’Men plunging into the abyss, a.k.a. the B.C. Hockey League’s off-season.
Back-to-back one-goal losses to the Chiefs at the George Preston Recreation Centre (GPRC) earlier this week have put the Rivermen in a 3-1 hole in their best-of-seven playoff series.
The losses give the ’Men zero room for error. They’ll have to beat the Chiefs three straight times in order to advance to the Mainland Division playoff final against either the Wenatchee Wild or Prince George Spruce Kings. The Wild hold a commanding 3-0 lead in their divisional best-of-seven set, with game four happening tonight (Wednesday) in Prince George.
Chiefs 3, Rivermen 2
Tuesday at the GPRC, the Chiefs inched another step closer to moving on to the next round after edging the ’Men.
The visitors jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first period and then held on for a one-goal victory.
Anthony Vincent and Linden Hora staked the Chiefs to a two-goal lead after the opening 20 minutes of play.
The Rivermen’s Ryan Barrow narrowed the margin to 2-1 by scoring 3:35 into the second period, but with 1:18 to go in the middle frame, Chilliwack’s Kale Kane restored his team’s two-goal lead with his third marker of the series.
The score remained 3-1 Chiefs for a majority of the third period.
However, forward Angus Crookshank brought the Rivermen to within one when he found the net with 53 seconds to go in regulation.
The Rivermen weren’t able to tie the game in the final seconds and now find themselves in a do-or-die scenario heading back to Chilliwack’s Prospera Centre on Friday. Opening puck drop for that game is 7 p.m.
If the Rivermen stave off elimination by beating the Chiefs Friday, game six will be played Saturday at the GPRC, with a 6 p.m. start time.
If the Rivermen win game six, and the series goes the full seven, it will be decided Sunday at Prospera, starting at 5 p.m.
Chiefs 4, Rivermen 3
Monday at the GPRC, the Chiefs jumped out to a 4-1 lead with goals by Jordan Kawaguchi and Kohen Olischefski early in the third period, then held off a late Rivermen charge to win by a goal.
Kawaguchi made it 3-1 Chiefs with his second of the night 35 seconds into the final frame, then Olischefski scored 2:13 later to increase the lead to three goals.
Back came the Rivermen, with Zac Masson scoring at the 12:24 mark, followed by a marker off the stick of Barrow with 44 seconds to go in the game.,
But that was as close as the Rivermen would come.
On a bright note for the Rivermen, both games at the GPRC –– including the Chiefs’ 4-3 victory Monday –– drew more than 1,000 fans, which is pretty impressive considering they had 7:15 p.m. starts and happened early in the work week.
