Dillon White – Mission City Record
The Mission City Outlaws snagged points in each of their three road games last week and returned home with an overtime victory to continue a strong stretch of play in which they’ve won six of seven games.
The Outlaws dropped the puck on a three-game road trip last Thursday (Nov. 9) and routed the Surrey Knights 6-1 to win their fourth straight game, powered by a hat-trick from forward Owen Elson.
In the first period, Surrey opened the scoring after just 30 seconds with a goal from Jacob Thompson. However, an unassisted goal from Mission forward Samuel Gerbrand just five minutes later tied the game heading into the second.
Elson potted his first of the game midway through the second and Spencer Fowle netted another unassisted goal to extend the Outlaws’ lead to 3-1 after 40 minutes.
After a penalty to Surrey’s Ashton Locke, Elson scored his second goal on the subsequent power play. The Mission forward completed the hat-trick with an empty-netter before Liam Van Der Hoeven scored Mission’s sixth unanswered goal to cap off the victory.
Mission was outshot 44-27 in the contest, but Max Fowle continued to be difficult to solve in between the pipes for the Outlaws. Cameron Nikaniuk also tallied two assists in the win.
On Saturday night (Nov. 11) in Port Moody, however, the Outlaws’ winning streak came to an end after a 3-2 overtime loss to the Panthers.
First-period fireworks provided the game with all of its scoring until overtime. Port Moody’s Dawson Toledo kicked off the festivities with a goal just over five minutes in. After a roughing penalty on Connor Hughes, Gerbrand capitalized on the man advantage to tie the game at one.
Austin Todd regained the lead for the Panthers on a power play late in the period but Austin Charlton evened the score late in the frame to head into the second period.
Mission outshot Port Moody in both the second and third periods but Panthers’ netminder Ty Angus stayed sharp to force overtime. Roughly two and a half minutes into the first overtime, Connor Hughes found the back of the net with his 11th of the season to end the game.
The following day, Mission emerged victorious in a defensive battle against the Port Coquitlam Trailblazers that featured Fowle’s fourth shutout of the season.
Outlaws’ defenceman Jayden Martin scored the game-winning goal late in the second period on the power play. Fowle turned aside 40 shots in the victory while Sean Van Bergen made 36 saves in the loss.
In a return to Mission Leisure Centre on Tuesday night (Nov. 14) for a meeting with the White Rock Whalers, Gerbrand emerged as the overtime hero for the Outlaws.
White Rock opened the scoring with an unassisted goal from Nathan Bran before Cade Peden tied it up just seconds later.
In the second period, Nikaniuk and Peden extended the Outlaws’ lead to 3-1 despite White Rock outshooting Mission 15-7 in the frame. The Whalers continued to pressure the Outlaws in the third and goals from Max Lyons and Dylan Heer forced overtime. Gerbrand connected on his 10th of the season less than a minute into the extra period to win the game.
After a strong start to November, Mission has vaulted into fourth place in the Harold Brittain Conference standings with a 10-11-1 record and 21 points.
Mission hosts Langley on Saturday night at 6:45 p.m. at Mission Leisure Centre.
(https://www.missioncityrecord.com/sports/mission-city-outlaws-win-6-of-last-7-games-7108536)
