Tag: Game Recaps

The VIU Mariners lead us to victory in a nail-biting match this past Saturday, October 5th, at Nanaimo Ice Centre in our home opener game sponsored by Nanaimo Mitsubishi. Mariners went head-to-head with the Logan Lake Miners and left the 325 fans sitting on the edge of their seats.

The first period started off strong with the Mariners fighting hard in the offensive zone, shooting on goal every open chance they had. They worked as a team to keep the Miners away from their net and focused on staying strong as a team.

In the second period, Miners pushed hard and scored their first two goals within the first five minutes of the period. Mariners forward, #14 Carson Erhardt, came back with the heat scoring Mariners first official goal of the season with an assist from #4 Tyson Lautard and #91 Rocky Bird. Miners then shot three more goals on net, leading their score to be 5-1.

The fans could tell the Mariners were not ready to back down in this intense battle. After a quick goalie change to #33 Wyatt Fournier, Mariners decided then and there that this game would not end as four point loss. #88 Cage Newans set the pace for the rest of the period by scoring the Mariners second goal of the evening with assist from #11 Mathieu Catellier.

The crowd stayed cheering on throughout, believing in our players to deliver a memorable game.

In the third period, Mariners turned around their momentum and looked for those empty pockets in the opposing net. Goal three for the Mariners was scored by Bird and assisted by Erhardt and #18 Davis Sato. Goal four and five came quickly after both scored by Erhardt, assisted by Newans, Bird, and then #10 Ethan Jones on the fifth goal.

The Mariners were not ready to back down and it showed. Jones scored the game winning goal with an assist from #24 Max Struss. They locked in the win 6-5 and Mariners fans have never been prouder to experience such electrifying game. Mariners led the shots on goal 65-16.

Newly appointed Captain, Will Norman, said, “It is a huge honour to be named captain of the Mariners. There have been so many amazing leaders in the past that have paved the way for our program and to even be considered one of them leaves me speechless. I was really proud of the guys and how hard we battled and never gave up against the Miners. Obviously, it was not the start we wanted but we will take the two points and continue to get better each and every day.”

The stars of the game were awarded to Jones and Erhardt. The CUPE 401 VIU Player of the Game was appointed to Erhardt for his tremendous teamwork and efficiency during this match. The team set the tone for the rest of the season and proved that it’ll be one for the books.

The Mariners experienced a tough loss against Red Leafs with the final score of 3-4.

The first period started off strong for the Mariners pushing the offensive zone immediately and looking for those open shot possibilities. #31 Jeremy Robar gave SFU a tough fight on the net. #29 Hunter Burgeson was caught in a two-minute penalty for hooking and SFU used their power play to their advantage to score the first goal of the game, 0-1.

VIU continued to come back hard SFU was struggling to keep the puck out of their net. This resulted in #77 Austin “Chubbs” Daniels receiving a penalty shot but wasn’t able to get it past the SFU goalie.

Shortly after, #24 Max Struss used the rebound from #88 Cage Newans to score the Mariner’s first goal of the game to even it out 1-1.

SFU came back hot to sneak a glove-side shot in on Robar advancing the score to 1-2.

Despite a four-minute knee-to-knee penalty from #97 Jordan Rea, SFU wasn’t quite able to keep possession of the puck regardless of their power play. Two more penalties follow from SFU but the Mariners struggle to even up the score.

In the second period, Mariners continued to have back-to-back powerplays in which #91 Rocky Bird achieved that much-desired goal on the net but was deemed a no-goal by the referees. SFU then went back and shot their third goal of the game nine minutes into the second period.

By the third period, tensions run high between the Mariners and Red Leafs. #10 Ethan Jones had an unfortunate five-minute penalty which also resulted in Jones being asked to leave the game. But the Mariners didn’t let the Red Leafs use this five-minute powerplay to score another goal on Robar. They stayed strong as a team, especially being one man down, and kept the puck possession in their favor.

Coming in strong soon after, #19 Ryan Hunter scored a five-hole goal, getting their score up to 2-3. Mariners and Red Leafs continued to battle it out until Burgeson scored the equalizer goal in the last three minutes of the period. Mariners go back and forth with the Red Leafs, both teams trying their hardest to score that game-winning goal before the period ends, but it went into overtime.

Within the first 30 seconds of the fourth period, SFU scored their fourth and final goal to end the game. VIU led the shots on goal 43-26.

The well-deserved CUPE 401 Player of the Game was awarded to #23 Owen Weihs. VIU Mariners come back to the island to play against UVIC Vikes on October 18th, 2024.