Richey leads Cariboo Cats to win against Chiefs
Mason Richey’s value to the Cariboo Cougars was made crystal-clear Friday night at Kin 1, where they entered the semifinal playoff pool facing the Vancouver Northeast Chiefs in the opener of their B.C. Hockey Major Midget League best-of-three semifinal series.
Richey fed the sharks on his team and they went right for the jugular.
The all-time leading scorer in the BCHMML and his three assists set the tone for the Cougars, who went on to defeat the Chiefs 5-2.
Linemate Paul Hauk was the first to feast off one of Richey’s tape-to-tape passes and it gave the Cougars the lead late in the first period.
Then on the power play, just 54 seconds into the second period, Richey’s wraparound produced a big fat rebound and a wideopen net for his other linemate, Craig MacDonald, and he buried it. Thirty-six seconds later, Brett Fudger got into the scoring act for the Cougars for a 3-0 lead.
“It was a great start, it probably changes the outcome of the game whether we got those first two (in the second period),” said Richey. “They were starting to come back and then we got those two and kind of put it away, I think.
“We knew they were coming in hot after knocking off the Number 1 team but we didn’t know what to expect. We just stuck to our game and took the win. Home ice advantage is huge for us, it showed last year and hopefully it will show this year.”
The Chiefs did have an answer for Fudger’s goal when, 10 seconds later, Ryan Denney put one past goalie Marcus Allen.
But Richey was in on the goal that dashed the Chiefs’ hopes of making a comeback. Just 10 seconds into their second power play of the game, the Cougars got their passing act together when Richey moved the puck to MacDonald, who put it on a tee for Hunter Floris to whack in past goalie Michael Harroch to increase the gap to 4-1 with 12 minutes left in the game.
“That might have been his best game of the playoffs so far tonight,” said Cougars head coach Tyler Brough, referring to Richey, his captain.
“He’s led by example, he’s done it all year for us and we’ve become accustomed to efforts like that from him. He’s a kid who works hard and earns it.”
The Chiefs finished eighth in the standings and last weekend pulled off one of the biggest first-round upsets in league history when they eliminated the regular-season champion Valley West Hawks in a three-game series.
Vancouver had quite a few chances to draw first blood in the opening period. Aleks Bujak put one off Allen’s trapper that just missed the net nine minutes in and they had some zone time which led some dicey moments for the defending champions. Dante Ballarin also put one off Allen’s glove that just about found the mark early in the second period, right after Cougar sniper MacDonald put one off the crossbar which convinced the goal judge to flip the switch.
“We knew they were going to be very prepared for us, they’re a well-coached team that does a lot of video and we’re the same way,” said Brough. “Coming out of the first with a 1-0 lead was big for us and then in the second period I thought we took over the game. We locked it down and they didn’t have much on the power play, our PK did a great job.”
The Cougars suffered a major blow with 5:28 left in the third period when Allen, their No. 1 puckstopper all season, went down with what looked to be a knee injury as he moved across the crease to take away the angle on Chiefs’ shooter Kyler Kovich. Allen had to be helped off the ice and Ryan Buchan came into replace him with the Chiefs working on their third power play of the game. Vancouver won the ensuing draw and on the first shot Buchan faced Quinton Hill blasted in a one-timer from the face-off circle.
“Ryan has been with us all year and he’s shown he can play at this level and if he’s starting (today) he’s going to be ready to go and our team will rally around him,” said Brough.
With Buchan in the game, the Chiefs had some extended pressure in the Cougars end but the Cats’ backup had just one save to make after Hill scored, thanks to the Cariboo skaters sacrificing their bodies to make hits and block shots. Brandon Dent found the empty net to cap the scoring. The shots ended up even at 23 apiece.
“I thought we had guys on the back end who really stepped up, some guys who have worked on their defensive game this year and to see them in a game like this where you need plays like that is huge for us,” said Brough. “Some blocked shots and guys winning battles on the boards and getting puck over the blueline, that’s the difference.”
Game 2 of the series is set for today at 4 p.m. at Kin 1. If the Chiefs win there will be a third game Sunday at 10 a.m.
“I’m going to expect (in Game 2) the same push they gave us the last five minutes,” said Richey. “They really came on strong and kind of hemmed us in and I imagine it will be the same deal tomorrow.”