U17 Canadians Split Two Games in Surrey Showcase

The U17 AAA Greater Vancouver Canadians split their two games in a U17 showcase weekend at the Newton Arena in Surrey, beating the Vancouver Island Royals 5-3 on Saturday and losing by the same score to Fraser Valley on Sunday.

The Canadians have dropped four of their last five games, including three to the Thunderbirds. GVC (21-9-2-2) is only two points ahead of the Thunderbirds (19-9-3-3) for first place with only two games left in the regular season.

Against the Royals on Saturday, the Canadians trailed 2-0 and 3-1 before scoring the final four goals of the game in the 5-3 victory, with Aidan Mark scoring three straight goals in the third period. Vlad Ursache and Helius Guan had the other goals for GVC, and Mark tied the game 3-3 at the 3:43 mark of the third. Mark then notched the game-winner with 11:27 remaining before getting the insurance goal with 6:53 left. Alan Peregrym picked up the win in goal, stopping 11 of 14 shots in the contest. Ursache added three assists as well. 

On Sunday, the Canadians fell 5-3 to Fraser Valley, their third loss to the Thunderbirds in nine days. Nathan Van Hoeke and Nishaan Gill gave the Canadians a 2-1 lead in the second, but Fraser Valley scored the next three goals to take the lead for good. Luca Martyniuk scored midway through the third to cut the deficit to 4-3, but the Thunderbirds added an empty-net goal to seal the victory.

With the goal on Sunday, Martyniuk now has 20 on the season along with 20 assists and 40 points. Liam Leslie made 28 saves, including 14 in the third period.

Next up for the U17 Canadians, a weekend series in Prince George to close out the regular season, as GVC takes on the eighth-place Cariboo Cougars (13-13-5-3) in a possible playoff preview. The Saturday game is at 3:00 p.m. at the Kin Centre, and the Sunday contest is at 10:00 a.m. at the same venue. Both games can be seen on playfullscreen.com.