The Alberni Valley Bulldogs finally dispatched a pesky Langley Rivermen squad in extra time as they picked up a 3-2 win in the final regular season game of the 23-24 season.
Despite the fact that Langley scratched many of their key players, the reserve recruits were up to the challenge and pushed the Bulldogs hard all night long.
Nicholas Beneteau capped his tremendous career with his 17th goal of the season to open the scoring at 6:20 of the 1st. Beneteau’s goal gave him his 138th point in his career, good for a tie of 7th place in Bulldogs history.
Dalton MacGillvray would get his 10th and 11th of the season to give the Rivermen their 1st lead of the night at 2:40 of the 2nd period.
A little under 13 minutes later, Hayden Stavroff scored his league-leading 35th goal of the season to pull the Bulldogs even after 40 minutes of play. Stavroff is heating up at the right time for the Bulldogs as they prepare for the post season with 5 goals in his last games. He also has 8 points in last 4 games.
Entering the final day of action, Stavroff leads West Kelowna’s Felix Caron by 4 goals for the league lead. Should Penticton hold Caron in check on Sunday, Stavroff would become the first Bulldog since Mitch MacMillan to lead the league in goal scoring.
There would be no scoring in the end period that produced very little in the way of chances as the Bulldogs outshot the Rivermen 5-4.
In OT things opened up as 3-on-3 usually does. Matt Kursonis ripped one past Liam Hallett at 4:13 of the extra session for the win.
Callum Tung earned his 22nd victory of the year as he stopped 32 of the 34 shots the Rivermen sent his way. Tung completed the regular season with a 22-14-1 record with a 2.80 GAA and a .917 save %. Tung also pitched 3 shutouts. Tung has been particularly hot down the stretch drive with 5 consecutive start allowing 3 or less and posting a .943 save % over that time.
The win was the 33rd of the season for the Bulldogs, the 4th highest total ever for the franchise. Their total of 203 goals for was the most since 09-10 when the BCHL schedule was 6 games longer.
Despite the victory, the Chilliwack Chiefs also prevailed in Nanaimo last night to secure 2nd place in the standings, relegating the Bulldogs to 3rd. That sets up a 1st round match up with the Coquitlam Express. Full details for the series will be announced Sunday Evening.
