2007-08 NEWS AND INFORMATION
The 2008 All-Star Game was played last night, and in spite of the best efforts of the All-Stars, Avalanche proved once again to be far too powerful as they easily won the game 13-2. Awards night will be this Saturday, March 22 at The Vault. Time and details will follow.
Avalanche have won their third league championship in a row after disposing of Blue Monkeys in 2 straight. Both games were hard fought affairs, Game 1 saw Blue Monkeys carry a 5-2 lead into the third period only to see Avalanche tally 6 times en route to an 8-6 victory, while Game 2 was also much closer than the final score of 8-4 would indicate. Phil Smith was stellar between the pipes for Blue Monkeys but after facing close to 100 shots during the 2 game series, even he could not stop the Avalanche as they have now run their incredible winning streak to 56 games. Congratulations to the Avalanche on their title and to all the teams on a successful season.
An intense Game 3 was played on Thursday evening between Blue Monkeys and Major Leagues, with both teams giving it their all for the whole 60 minutes of play. Phil Smith made several spectacular saves to keep the Blue Monkeys in the game and level with Major League at 2 heading to overtime, or so it seemed. With 10 seconds to play, Ryan Webster threw a pass from the corner that hit the stick of Nam Aujla, who promptly deposited the ball behind Larry Martin in the Major Leagues net and Blue Monkeys have advanced to the league championship final where they will meet Avalanche in a best-of-three series beginning this Saturday evening at 7:00. Game 2 in the series will be played on Sunday, also at 7:00, while a Game 3, if necessary, will be played on Saturday, March 15 at 7:00. Good luck to both teams.
Avalanche have become the first team to enter the league championship series after a convincing 10-3 win and a two game sweep of their series with Taseko. Wade Good spotted 5 more points while Chris Brace and Rich Thorkilsen both added hat tricks as Avalanche continue their perfect season. Their opponent in the finals will have to wait another game to be determined as Blue Monkeys played an intense game facing elimination and forced a deciding game in their series with Major Leagues after a 3-1 win also on Sunday evening. Nam Aujla scored all 3 goals for the winning team and Phil Smith was stellar between the pipes as this series will have to wait until March 6 to be decided. This is confirmed and game time will be 7:00.
The semi-finals opened play on Saturday and both top seeds had little difficulty in taking series leads. Avalanche could not solve the hot goaltending of Jeff Fraser over the first 26 minutes of the game, but after that it was an avalanche of goals as Wade Good with 6 points and Rich Thorkilsen with 5 of his own paced the regular season champs to an 11-1 thrashing of Taseko. Also, Major Leagues took the lead in their series with a hard fought 4-1 victory over Blue Monkeys on the strength of a goal and an assist from both Jason Struys and James Wouda and solid goaltending from Larry Martin. Both series' resume tonight at 6:15.
Tyler Kostering stopped 26 of 27 shots fired his way as he took over for an ailing Jeff Fraser and Pete Meunier potted 3 points as Taseko upset Ghost Riders on Thursday evening 3-1 to advance to the semi-finals. The Riders could not figure out the back-up goaltender and tried everything to beat him, to no avail. Taseko will now play Avalanche beginning on Saturday at 6:15 while Major Leagues and Blue Monkeys will begin their best of three series at 7:30.
Two series ended on Sunday evening while one will go the distance. Major Leagues fired 54 shots at Sonny Rozsa and cruised to a 5-0 win to advance to the semi-final round, while Larry Martin pitched a 16 save shutout. Blue Monkeys also advanced after scoring 3 goals late in the third period for a comeback 4-3 win over Oilers to sweep their series. Ghost Riders scored early and often and forced a third and deciding game with Taskeo after posting a 10-2 whipping. Game 3 will be played on Thursday evening at 7:00.
Brad Wiens scored a shorthanded marker 13 minutes into overtime as Blue Monkeys defeated Oilers 4-3 in the first game of their best of three quarter-final series as the 2007-08 playoffs opened on 3 fronts. In other games, Venom started strong and stayed tight with Major Leagues before 7 different players tallied in an eventual 8-3 victory for the pubmen. And special teams proved to be the difference as Taseko scored 3 powerplay goals and added a shorthanded one and Jeff Fraser was spectacular between the pipes in a shocking 6-1 defeat of Ghost Riders. All series resume on Sunday at 5:00.
PLAY ON 4 on 4 street hockey challenge Presented By CBC HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA Is coming to Langley BC on JUNE 28 & 29TH 2008 This is the National street hockey tournament for divisions of all ages for both men and women. The winning team of the elite open division to move on to battle for the National Title in February of 2009 live on Hockey Day in Canada.
We are asking if you could please pass this message along to your mailing lists. This years event is going to be bigger and better than ever and we are trying to set the Guinness World Record for the largest street hockey event to ever take place.
We are encouraging people of all ages to register their team today and get ready for a exciting event full of great prizes and entertainment. This is going to be the ball hockey event of the summer with the only one of its kind in BC.
Check out the web site at www.playon.ca So break out your sticks and pads and get ready for the tournament of the year. Thank you so much for your support.
If you have any questions please contact [email protected]