Adanacs Win 5th Straight BC Title
The final game in the BC Junior A post season went down last night as it was a do or die game for both the New Westminster Salmonbellies and the Coquitlam Adanacs.
Just like game 4, Adanacs’ Wesley Berg and Salmonbellies’ Frank Scigliano were out due to injury, so it was up to Ross Bowman to take control of the crease for the ‘Bellies and the Adanacs to take the extra step to fill in for Berg.
Both teams were treading lightly in the first 5 minutes, as there were no real scoring chances, but at 5:24, the Adanacs scored first when Matt Delmonico received a high pass and quickly shot it while still in the air.
Less than 2 minutes later, Taylor Stuart beat Bowman on a breakaway to give the Adanacs a 2-0 lead. The Salmonbellies were off to a slow start and they couldn’t beat Davide DiRuscio.
The Adanacs continued to roll when Vinny Ricci scored at 10:18 and then exactly 2 minutes later, DiRuscio made a heads up play when he saw a wide open Reid Reinholdt who went on a breakaway and beat Bowman to give the Adanacs a commanding 4-0 lead.
On a missed shot, Sam Goodman picked up the loose ball and instead of going for a line change, Josh Byrne ran back and got a good hit on Goodman before going off. If the ‘Bellies can’t get it going on the offense, they can at least make it count on defense.
The ‘Bellies finally got on the board at 14:04 when Anthony Malcolm scored, but then Steven Neufeld scored rather quickly with his patented behind the back shot after picking up a rebound to make it 5-1 Adanacs.
With less than 2 minutes to go in the period, Spencer Stevens scored to make it 6-1 for the Adanacs. After the goal, Dylan Long and Stevens went toe-to-toe, but really it was only Long as he received 2 minutes for roughing, 5 minutes for fighting and a 10-minute misconduct, while Stevens got 2 minutes for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct.
The ‘Bellies got an important goal with 40 seconds remaining in the period, when Cody Nass fought off a check behind the net and got in front of the goal to beat DiRuscio.
The second period was a period in which the Adanacs would like to forget. They opened the scoring in the second period when Neufeld picked up his own rebound and took a quick shot to beat Bowman. The Adanacs continued to push on the power play, but the posts saved the day for the Salmonbellies as the Adanacs hit 3 posts on the power play.
With the Adanacs missing the net, the ball went all the way down into the Adanacs zone where Brendan Ranford won the foot race, picked up the ball and beat DiRuscio to start the comeback.
Nass scored at 9:11 when Malcolm fed a great pass to him and Nass made no mistake to make it a 7-4 game.
Adanacs’ Jordan Gilles put a wrench into the ‘Bellies comeback when it looked like he was slowing down to wait for his teammates to make a line change, but then beat the ‘Bellies defender and then squeaking the shot past Bowman.
Ranford scored his second of the game at 10:15 to cut the Adanacs lead to 2, and then Luke Gillespie scored on a 2-on-1 where DiRuscio didn’t even move on the shot. DiRuscio’s night ended after that goal as Peter Dubenski took over.
The momentum had shifted as the ‘Bellies stepped up their game. Steve Ferdinandi got 2 minutes for slashing at 11:54, but that didn’t stop Eli McLaughlin as he scored shorthanded less than 30 seconds into the penalty.
It didn’t stop there for the ‘Bellies as Bowman passed it an open Justin Goodwin and he broke in and beat Dubenski to tie the game. Bowman was stopping everything the Adanacs were throwing at him and both teams headed into the locker room at a deadlock.
The Adanacs started the third period with a big bang. Goals by Tyler Garrison, Reinholdt and Michael Messenger put the Adanacs up 11-8 within the first 3 minutes and 30 seconds of the period. It looked like Bowman’s night was over when Michael Flintoff went in goal, but they switched within 12 seconds.
Reinholdt got called for tripping at 4:25 and that allowed Malcolm to finish off a nice passing play to cut the Adanacs lead to 2, but Andy Taylor gave the Adanacs a little more cushion when he scored at 7:21.
The ‘Bellies quickly stormed back when Gillespie and McLaughlin scored less than 2 minutes apart to cut the Adanacs lead to 1 with 8 minutes to go in the period.
The Salmonbellies had five scoring chances in a matter of 10 seconds to tie the game, but Dubenski was moving side to side and making some huge saves and then the dagger came and it came from the one guy that the ‘Bellies simply could not stop. With just over 5 minutes to go, Neufeld popped in his third goal of the game to give the Adanacs a 13-11 lead.
To make matters worse for the ‘Bellies, Byrne got called for slashing and it was definitely a penalty he should not have taken.
The rest is gravy. Taylor missed an empty net and with a diving Bowman, Garrison made no mistake in putting it in the back of the net. With less than 20 seconds to go and another empty net, Garrison netted his third of the game and the Adanacs went on to win their fifth straight championship, defeating the Salmonbellies 15-11.
3 Stars of the game
1. Coquitlam – Steven Neufeld (3 goals, 1 assist)
2. Coquitlam – Reid Reinholdt (2 goals, 5 assists)
3. Coquitlam – Tyler Garrison (3 goals)
To no surprise, the most valuable player was awarded to Adanacs’ Steven Neufeld.
And that wraps up the 2013 BC Junior A season. I hope everyone enjoyed the season as much as I did. Congratulations to the Adanacs on winning their fifth straight title and a standing ovation to the Salmonbellies on their comeback attempt. Thank you to both teams for an exciting final.
While the BC Junior A season is over, it’s not quite over for the Salmonbellies and the Adanacs. You can catch both teams fighting for the Minto Cup against the Alberta champions, the Okotoks Raiders and the Ontario champions, the Whitby Warriors.
I hope you all enjoyed reading my game recaps and I hope to see you all back here next year.