Richmond Sockeyes return to Minoru Arenas Thursday night as the lone remaining undefeated team in the Pacific Junior Hockey League.
Since opening their season with a 3-3 tie against the Delta Ice Hawks, the Sockeyes (3-0-1-0) have produced three straight road victories as they made way for last weekend’s ISU Grand Prix figure skating competition in their regular game slot.
Richmond rolled to a 7-3 victory over the Surrey Knights last Thursday then edged the Mission City Outlaws 2-1 in double overtime on Saturday night.
Veteran Trevor Townsend tied the game with 4:30 remaining, then set-up Craig Shouten for the game winner with the teams playing three-on-three. Jeremy Kelleway was terrific in net, making 40 saves.
In Surrey, rookie Marcus Pantazis continued his impressive start to the season with five points, including a pair of goals, to lead the Sockeyes past the winless Knights (0-4-0-0). The 17-year-old Vancouver Canadians major midget alumni now has eight points in four games.
Brady Sprague also scored twice while singles went to Gabriel Sussenbacher-Fu, Ross Zerdin and Townsend. Evan McCune made 23 saves for the win.
The road win streak started with a 4-3 triumph over the expansion White Rock Whalers on Sept. 8. Michael Araki-Young scored what proved to be the game winning goal midway through the second period.
The Grandview Steelers visit Minoru on Thursday at 7 p.m. Richmond also travels to North Vancouver Saturday to face the Wolf Pack.
Icing…
The Sockeyes have added more experience and toughness to their line-up with the signing of 20-year-old forward Isaac Embree. The Delta native has spent the past two seasons in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League after coming out of the Delta Hockey Academy.
Embree picked up a match penalty in the win over Mission and an automatic three game suspension. He is eligible to return on Sept. 29 at Port Moody.