Week five of the BCHL season is in the books and their are four sophomore players who are already matching what they produced in a full season last year.
The Nanaimo Clippers' Joe Perry has six goals and five assists in ten games after last season collecting seven goals and five assists in 41 games.
Curtis McKenzie of the Penticton Vees already has four goals and seven assists in nine games after last season posting three goals and seven assists in 49 games. McKenzie numbers should continue to climb even higher now that Denver Manderson has returned to the lineup after collecting 52 points in 31 games last season.
The Langley Chiefs' Colton Beck has seven goals and four assists in 12 games after notching four goals and six assists in 46 games last season. The Chiefs are only 1-3-0-1 after a six game winning streak though and are missing leading scorer Derek Grant, who did not play in all three games last weekend with an injury.
Finally, Jordan Grant of the Merritt Centennials has six goals and eight assists in 15 games after seven goals and seven assists in 51 games last season. Optimism is shining in Merritt after taking five of six points last weekend and they were about two minutes away from a perfect weekend as Prince George scored to tie the game with 2:11 left in the game before winning in overtime.
Speaking of overtime, the Surrey Eagles are the only team to not yet have a game go into OT. They are also the only team to not have a road victory yet after three failed tries. They are, however, the first team along with the Burnaby Express, to register the same amount of shots in a game. For the Express, Max Grassi and Alex Valenti were on eight and seven game point streaks entering weekend play.
Also in Burnaby, American born rookie Garrick Perry discussed with Grant Granger of the Burnaby NewsLeader why he choose to come north of the border, “My personal belief on the USHL is it's a business, not a development league,” Perry said. “The BCHL is a very good organization. They've brought guys that have started really low in the league and brought them to a point where they're scoring 50 goals a year. It's what I need, a development league.” The rest of the great article is here.
Playing on the road has also been tough for the Salmon Arm Silverbacks who are 1-4-0-0 as visitors but 5-1-0-0 at home. The Silverbacks are led offensively by Mark Zengerle who is on a seven game point streak which has been good for 18 points. Zengerle also has posted six games in a row with a multi-point game.
The Victoria Grizzlies have also been very good at home as they are undefeated in five games. Justin Courtnall, Derek Lee, and Evan Pighin all have six-game point streaks and the team has won now six straight games overall.
Several point streaks to point out include the Alberni Valley Bulldogs' Chris Moulson getting a point in eight straight games after no points in first two games. Paul Mailey of the Trail Smoke Eaters is on a seven game point streak with 11 points overall. Finally the Vernon Vipers' Braden Pimm has atleast a point in five straight games good for ten points overall and this after only one point total in his first seven games.
The Cowichan Valley Capitals are 0-3-0-1 when leading after the first period and 3-0-0-0 this season when trailing after the first. Chris Zaires is on a five game point streak where he has registered nine points.
Finally, the Powell River Kings have still not been outshot in 14 games played. Erik Vos has a goal in seven straight games and in total nine goals and three assists for the most impressive current streak in the league along with teammate Darcy Oakes who is on a ten game point streak with 17 points in total. The Kings have scored alot of the goals this season but do not have a goalie in the top 17 of either GAA or Save Percentage. The quote of the week goes to head coach Kent Lewis as he told Glen Gibbs of the Powell River Peak, “We totally outplayed them and the four goals they had were four dumb mistakes by us.” The rest of the article is here.
