The Ridge Meadows Flames are on the verge of advancing to the Harold Brittain Conference final, after taking the first three games of their best-of-seven series against the Mission City Outlaws.
The regular season conference champs beat the Outlaws 4-1 on Friday night, Feb. 23, and then shut them out 6-0 on Saturday. Those results followed at close 4-3 comeback win in their series opener on Feb. 19, and the Flames are now poised to sweep their way through their first series of the Stonehouse Cup Pacific Junior Hockey League playoffs.
The two teams will meet for Game 4 in Mission on Tuesday, Feb. 27.
On Saturday, Theo Kochan scored a hat trick, and Jack Foster put up three assists.
“We played great,” said Kochan in an interview with Flames broadcaster Andrew Cheverie. “We came out and played a full 60 today, so nothing to complain about.
@flamesjunior Forward Theo Kochan scored the game winning goal in tonight’s 4-1 win over the Outlaws at the Cam. With the win, the Flames go up 2-0 in the HBC semifinal. Here is Theo after the game! #MapleRidge #PittMeadows #ThePJHL #madeofhockey pic.twitter.com/xVvZTAYnAP
— Andrew Cheverie (@andrewcheverie) February 24, 2024
“We came out hard, and pressured them the whole game, and they just couldn’t handle it.”
Evan Fedele, Nolan Bowsher and Pierce Whyte were the other three scorers.
Goalie Matthew Candusso made 19 saves to get the shutout, which was a comparatively light load, considering the Flames outshot the Outlaws by 30 goals.
Vaughn Kaliel, the other outstanding rookie goaltender with the Flames, made 16 saves on 17 shots to earn the win on Friday in game two.
Zack Lagrange had two goals, while captain Lukas Ravenstein and Kochan each tallied a goal and an assist.
4-1 W @ The Cam tonight!
— Ridge Meadows Flames (@flamesjunior) February 24, 2024
The Hard Hat Winner is Zack Lagrange!
🚨’s - Lagrange x2, Kochan, Ravenstein.
🍎’s - Ravenstein, Allen, Blatz.
Kaliel with the W!
🔥🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/vFyugfB63O
Should the Flames advance to the conference championship, they will take on the winnner of the conference semi-final series between the Chilliwack Jets and Langley Trappers. The Jets have a 3-2 lead in that series, where the home team has yet to lose. The series is in Langley on Feb. 28.
In the Tom Shaw conference, the Delta Ice Hawks swept the North Vancouver Wolf Pack in four straight.
The Richmond Sockeyes have a lead of three games to none over the White Rock Whalers heading into Monday night’s action. The Sockeyes were the PJHL’s top team during the regular season.
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