PJHL Media
Heading into a 10-game weekend of PJHL action that highlights the third week of the schedule, we’ll take a quick look now at some noteworthy items already in the books from around the league.
Tom Shaw Titans – The two teams with the most games played so far are also undefeated and they both sit atop the Tom Shaw Conference standings. The Richmond Sockeyes and Delta Ice Hawks are both 5-0 and each have a scorer tied for the league lead with identical scoring stats to date. Carson Merriman, who is poised to play his 100th PJHL game this season with Delta, and Richmond rookie Nicholas Noren both have 7-3-10 through five games. Merriman has two game-winning goals already while Noren has two shorthanded markers. The schedule has these two squads facing off in a few days’ time, on Tuesday, Sept. 26 in a 7:35 faceoff at Delta’s Ladner Leisure Centre.
Busy ‘tenders – No goalie has been more active than Mission City’s Max Fowle. Though he’s played the second most minutes at 239 over four games, he’s stared down a PJHL-high 157 shots and produced a sparkling .924 save percentage for the 1-4 Outlaws. Another masked man who’s been busy is Richmond’s Thomas Popa who has backstopped the Sockeyes in each of their five straight wins to start the season.
OT Ups and Downs – You wouldn’t blame the Ridge Meadows Flames for being a bit wary heading to overtime after coming up on the short end of last season’s Game 7 Stonehouse Cup-clinching thriller at the hands of Delta but the Flames have gone past 60 minutes twice already. There was a 4-3 shootout loss September 16 to North Van and a high note more recently with a 2-1 overtime win at Langley Sept. 20 with Samuel Allen authoring the winner on the man advantage. The last one had to feel good for Ridge Meadows as it came on the same ice where last season’s playoffs finished, George Preston Arena in Langley.
Power-Play Producers – Of the four goals scored this season by Richmond’s Bryce Strandt, three have come on the power play. That’s three of the eight PP goals for the Sockeyes, who carry a 26.7 per cent success rate on the man advantage over five games. There are five players who have registered three assists on the power play, including two from the same team in Abbotsford’s Drew Dornan and Camden Koch.
If you can’t be at the rink, catch all PJHL games this season on FLO Hockey.
