Adanacs one win away from Minto Cup

The Calgary Mountaineers looked to even the series at 1 in the Western Canadian Finals on Friday night at the Coquitlam Sports Centre.

There were a few changes in both lineups as Adanacs’ Wesley Berg and Robin Lowenberger sat out game 2 and the Mountaineers decided to go with Tim Houghton in goal.

The first period was busy as the Mountaineers needed to come out strong, but the Adanacs were side-by-side with them. The Mountaineers got on the board first when Connor Goodwin scored 48 seconds into the period, but the Adanacs quickly tied it up with a goal by Eli McLaughlin at 1:45.

The Adanacs took the lead at 3:12 with a goal from Jordan Magnuson, but then the Mountaineers started to fire on all cylinders as Spencer Gelinas, Patrick Henry and Dan Taylor each scored to give the Mountaineers a 4-1 lead just after the fifth-minute mark.

Brett Hawrys cut the Mountaineers lead to two and with Mountaineers’ Connor Wilson in the box for holding, the Adanacs looked to cut that lead to one, but they couldn’t get their power play organized.

Goodwin took a bad penalty at 1:21 with a delay of game penalty, which was a questionable call, but regardless, it proved costly as Tyler Pace beat goaltender Houghton with 31 seconds left in the period to make it 4-4.

The second period saw great pace, but it was the Adanacs who outplayed the Mountaineers. Chase McIntyre gave the Adanacs the lead at 4:33 as he continues to have a great series. The Adanacs’s power play continued to roll as they went 2-for-3 when Hawrys netted his second of the game at 10:36.

You could say Pace picked up the “pace” with Berg out of the lineup as he took over the game in the latter half of the period. Pace netted his second of the game at 13:38, following up with his third and fourth at 15:30 and 17:42, the fourth coming on the power play as the Adanacs took a commanding 9-4 lead into the third period.

The question I’m sure everyone has been waiting to be answered is, when will these two teams start to dislike each other? Well, we got a tease in the third period. Messenger scored 8 seconds into the period, which basically was enough time for him to win the faceoff and get down into the Mountaineers zone and beat Houghton.

Over a minute later, Adanacs’ Jake Taylor and Mountaineers’ Tremblay dropped the gloves, but didn’t exchange many punches as they just wrestled each other down to the ground.

There was no holding back for the Adanacs as Cole Shafer and McIntyre scored before the fifth-minute mark to make it 12-4. The Mountaineers added two goals to make it 12-6, but that wasn’t going to change the game one bit.

There were some more rough stuff and stick work happening throughout the rest of the period, but nothing in particular to mention as the Mountaineers were simply frustrated.

McLaughlin made it 13-6 and that would be your final score in game 2 of the Western Canadian Finals.

Three Stars of the Game

Coquitlam, Tyler Pace – 4 Goals, 3 Assists
Coquitlam, Pete Dubenski – 33 Saves, 6 Goals Against
Coquitlam, Eli McLaughlin – 2 Goals, 4 Assists

The Adanacs are one win away from advancing to the Minto Cup and they will look to end the series on Saturday night at 8:00PM at Coquitlam Sports Centre.