The Sockeyes started October off on the road, taking on the Grandview Steelers, knowing that they would be hard pressed to pull out a “W.”
However, playing a full sixty minutes saw them pull out a 5-2 win.
Staying on top and maintaining consistent play from the net out is one area the coaching staff have been working on from the practice rink to game time.
The Whalers ventured to Minoru in hopes of knocking the Sockeyes off the top spot in the PJHL, but given the constant and stellar play of Thomas Popa, they managed to pull out a 5-0 win.
Justin Grant started the scoring off at 4:57, speeding down the wing after getting set up by Jonathan Soares and Ethan Grishin for the only goal in the first, holding a narrow 10-9 margin in shots.
It goes without saying that penalties prove costly and in this case it was Mattias Uyeda who put the Sockeyes up 2-0 while on the power play with Jonathan Soares and Teo Lin with the helpers.
Heading to the dressing room after two saw the Sockeyes outshooting the Whalers by a 28-18 margin after two, with only one minor assessed.
The third saw the home squad cheered on by a fair size crowd, managing to hammer home a pair of empty net goals with the Whalers pulling Mark Paton when down by a 2-0 margin.
Try as they might, the tactic proved unlucky with Nicholas Noren getting his 14th of the season, followed by another empty net (EN) goal from Noah Gibbons, giving Thomas Popa the shutout win.
Less than 24 hours later they traveled to play their first ever game in Port Coquitlam in only their second meeting of the season.
Expansion teams can be a “dark horse” when it comes to sports, but again motivation is the key for any successful club, team and organization.
This match-up saw Oliver Read get the start for the Sockeyes between the pipes giving Thomas Popa a well-earned night off.
Richmond came out flying, getting their first of the game with Callum Lind opening the scoring at 2:05 with helpers from Mattias Uyeda and Gavin Sangara.
One is only a number and they continued with Rajun Parmar giving them a 2-0 lead at 12:30, with Daniel Zhou and Dawson Sucke working magic from the back end.
Richmond started strong and finished the first outshooting PoCo by a 14-8 tally that saw only one goal in the second, with Soares taking a 3-0 lead, while being outshoot 10-7 in the second.
Letting up wasn’t in their mind-set that saw the Sockeyes start the third off with Noah Gibbons giving them a comfortable 4-0 at the 1:50 mark.
Richmond continued to put pucks behind PoCo’s Sean Van Bergen with the fifth off the stick of
Eithan Grishan collecting his first of the season followed with their final goal of the night from Kai McComb for a commanding 6-0 lead.
Never say never is an old saying but in this case truer words were never spoken that saw PoCo’s Foster Marsh spoil the shutout for Oliver Read in his debut with Richmond leaving with a 6-1 win.
The win puts the Sockeyes in sole command of first place in the PJHL with 10 wins, zero losses and one shootout loss that has them with 21 points through 11 games.
Their next test is Oct. 12 when they they face the Chilliwack Jets, where they look to continue the streak with the face-off set for 7 p.m.
For more information and tickets, go to https://www.richmondsockeyes.com/
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