U15 Canadians Complete Marathon Week with Five Games in Five Days

The U15 AAA Greater Vancouver Canadians completed a long week with five games in five days, coming up with a victory and four close, hard-fought losses. 

The week began on Wednesday (Jan. 31), with the Canadians losing 4-2 to the Vancouver NW Hawks at the Richmond Oval, in a makeup game from Jan. 17 that was postponed due to snow. The Canadians trailed 2-0 before goals by Henry Goldman and Christopher Tang tied things up. But the Hawks regained the lead with 7:30 left in the second, just 29 seconds after Tang’s tying goal. The Hawks then added an insurance goal with only 1:28 remaining in regulation. D’Angelo Brual was solid in goal for the Canadians, stopping 24 shots to keep the game close. 

Then, in a showcase weekend which ran from Friday to Sunday at the Richmond Ice Centre, the Canadians dropped three of four, including a 5-3 loss to Cariboo on Friday morning. After the Cougars jumped out to a 3-0 lead early in the second, the Canadians tied the game 3-3 with three straight power-play goals in a span of three minutes late in the period, with Nicholas Harris, Christopher Tang, and Henry Goldman all finding the back of the net. Alas, the Cougars took the lead for good seven minutes into the third, and then added an insurance goal with 2:15 left in regulation. 

Then on Saturday, the Canadians played twice, beating the NW Hawks 3-1 in the morning and losing 5-3 to Thompson in the evening. 

In the victory over the Hawks, Luke Wilson scored twice and Nicholas Harris had the other goal, while D’Angelo Brual picked up the win allowing only a first-period goal before shutting down Vancouver NW the rest of the way. In the evening game against the Blazers, Maxwell Clemens, Connor Ma, and Christopher Tang all scored for GVC as the Canadians took 2-0 and 3-1 leads. But Thompson stormed back with four unanswered goals, the last three coming in the third period. The Canadians fired 11 shots in the third and had 36 in the game, but were unable to pick up a second consecutive win. 

Finally, on Sunday, the Canadians took a 1-0 first-period lead against the second-place Valley West Giants but couldn’t score the rest of the way in a 3-1 loss. Henry Goldman opened the scoring with a power-play goal 6:40 into the contest, but the Giants scored three times in the second to hand the Canadians their fourth loss in the last four games. D’Angelo Brual was outstanding in goal despite the loss, stopping 14 shots in the second period and 31 overall. 

Next up for the U15 Canadians (9-14-1-2), a home series against the Vancouver Island Royals (6-16-0-4) on Feb. 10-11, their final two home games of the season. The first game is at 2:30 p.m., and the second is at 8:30 a.m., with both contests at the Richmond Oval and available on playfullscreen.com.