Hockey
2017 PJHL Winter Classic
The Pacific Junior Jockey League held it’s second Annual Winter Classic for the second consecutive year at the Minoru Arena January 1-3, which again was hosted by the Richmond Sockeyes.
Given the recent “cold-snap” we are going through one could actually state that this was a real winter classic which made things a little chilly for the fans attending the games.
Despite the cold conditions we are facing all 10 teams managed to make the game time and all went off without a hitch and many were saying it was another success.
All games through the three day event featured a high tempo style of play as well as solid fan entertainment, which they have scheduled again for January 2018.
A huge plus were the numerous volunteers that took out the time of their schedules to make this a success and if not for them it could not have be played.
Each team played two games, one home and one away and as per league rules all games counted for points in the standings.
So the importance of the match-up was key to the standings that no doubt made the Harold Brittain and Tom Shaw Conference teams stronger moving forward for the remainder of 2016-17 regular season play.
The event “kicked-off” on the new years day (January 1st) with three games and the first being Port Moody Panthers taking on the Mission City Outlaws pulling of 4-1 win.
The second game of the day saw the Ridge Meadows Flames blank Abbotsford 3-0 in what many could call a cross-bridge match-up game.
In the nightcap or evening thriller saw the Aldergrove Kodiaks narrowly edge the home town favourites Richmond Sockeyes by a narrow 5-4 win – in overtime.
Day two saw the Steelers and the Ridge Meadows Flames hook-up and for the second consecutive game it took O/T to decide the score; with the Steelers grabbing the winner taking the game 3-2.
In a high scoring affair saw the Panthers host the North Vancouver Wolf Pack in which both teams combined for 12 goals.
The Wolf Pack breaking a 5-5 tie with the game with under four minutes left in regulation time and they added an insurance goal to win the game 7-5.
The last game of day two saw the league’s top two teams battle it out as the league leading Aldergrove Kodiaks took on the Delta Ice Hawks in the matinee game of the night.
The Kodiaks opened a 3-0 lead on the Ice Hawks 3-0 at the end of the first period, but it was Delta that got an early goal cutting the deficit to 3-1.
Aldergrove extended the lead to 4-1 in the second period as they took three goal lead in the final period.
Delta banged home a goal in the opening minute to make it close 4-2 and pressed the Kodiaks throughout the third threatening with a two man advantage for 1:44 but could not bag the goal to cut into the lead.
Aldergrove added a late goal forcing a turnover in the Ice Hawks zone to make the final score 5-2 for the league leaders.
The final day three games played in the afternoon had the Wolf Pack edge Mission City 4-1, which was followed by an epic match-up between Delta and Grandview in which the Ice Hawks came out on top 3-2 – again in O/T.
The final game of the this years classic saw the host Richmond Sockeyes taking on the Surrey knights in a game that saw the teams in a close battle through 40 minutes tied 1-1, but the end result saw Richmond outscore Surrey by a 4-1 margin closing this years classic.
We look forward to next years event in 2018.