The Lake Cowichan Kraken out-shot, outscored, and showed more discipline than their expansion mates, the Port Alberni Bombers, in a game that featured significantly more penalties than goals, Nov. 30.
The result, a 5-1 victory for the Kraken, earned goalie Sean Walia his first win of the year with Lake Cowichan. Walia played all 60 minutes, stopping 26 of 27 shots sent his way. In contrast, the Kraken fired 51 shots at the opposing goalie, who was able to stop all but five.
Lake Cowichan opened the scoring at 9:33 of the first when Kraken newcomer Gavin Mastrodonato, a recent trade from the Bombers, finished a passing play from Sukhraj Narwal and Ayden Baldo.
The Kraken doubled their lead at 13:06 them Mastrodonato and Rowan Zapisocki fed Anthony Wilson the team’s second goal of the period.
After a Bombers goal, Narwall got his 17th of the season on the powerplay after being set up by Wilson.
Aiden Eddy rounded out the first period scoring with a goal from Rylan Hildebrand to give Lake Cowichan a 4-1 lead headed into the first intermission.
Just shy of midway through the second frame, Narwal and Zapisocki paired up on the powerplay to assist Carter Anderson in scoring his first of the season for the Kraken. The goal lifted the score to 5-1 in favour of the visiting Kraken.
Lake Cowichan won the special teams battle, cashing in on two of nine powerplay chances. Port Alberni went zero for five on their powerplay opportunities in a game that featured 25 penalties.
The Kraken’s goal-scoring prowess did carry over into their game against the Storm in Campbell River Friday, Dec. 2, but unfortunately the Storm scored even more.
The game saw 10 goals overall with Lake Cowichan coming out on the losing end of a 6-4 score.
Goals came via the sticks of Evan Vasarhely (from Anthony Wilson and Brayden Ganter), Aiden Eddy (2), (from Dallas Brown, then from Hildebrand and Andrew White), and from Kyler Smith.
This time around, Lake Cowichan lost the special teams battle, going zero for two on the powerplay while the storm went three for five.
Brendon Wilson took the loss in goal, stopping 30 of the 36 shots he faced.
Up next for the Kraken is a trip to Archie Browning Arena tonight, Dec. 8, to meet the Victoria Grizzlies, followed by a trip to Nanaimo to face off against the Buccaneers tomorrow, Dec. 9. Puck drops are 7 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. respectively.
