Coaches always talk about a complete 60-minute effort and the Langley Rivermen may have delivered that on Friday night.
“We pretty much had all aspects going,” said coach Bobby Henderson.
He was referring to his junior A hockey club’s 5-1 victory over the Mainland Division-leading Prince George Spruce Kings at the Langley Events Centre.
“(Goalie James) Barr was awesome, our D was solid, we got timely goals, the power play clicked to put the game away and the penalty kill was solid,” he summed up. “I really have no complaints.”
Evan Campbell opened the scoring 88 seconds into the game and never looked back.
Derek Sutliffe added a short-handed goal two minutes later and before the first intermission, Jakob Reichert fired home a wrist shot for a 3-0 advantage.
And after Justin Rai got the visitors on the board, Mario Puskarich got that goal back and Mitch McLain scored the home side’s fifth goal in the final period.
Campbell earned first star honours with a goal and two assists, while Sutfliffe (one goal, one assist) and Barr (31 saves) rounded out the three star selections.
Langley also hosted the Surrey Eagles on Nov. 1, falling 2-1 in double overtime when Langley Minor Hockey Association product Jordan Klimek buried the winner.
Ben Butcher had the lone Rivermen goal while Barr was first star with 32 saves.
“I think we deserved better,” Henderson said.
“But going to double overtime … we’ll take our point.”
Langley improved to 8-7-0-3.
The Rivermen are in Chilliwack to face the Chiefs on Nov. 7 (Wednesday) before hosting the Coquitlam Express at the LEC on Saturday (Nov. 10).
