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EXPRESS WINLESS ON INTERIOR TRIP

It wasn't a weekend to remember for the Burnaby Express through the Interior.

Afterdropping the opening game Friday 7-2 in Salmon Arm for Burnaby's firstregulation loss of the season, the trip continued Saturday in Trailwhere the Express fell 5-4 in overtime. Then the trip wrapped up Sundayin Vernon where the Express fell 4-2 to the defending RBC Cup champion Vipers.

Saturdayin Trail, Burnaby played without captain Dylan Herold who was suspendedfor this one after being involved in a second fight while Matt Ius was in a fight of his own.

Saturday,the Express faced a Trail Smoke Eaters club that had just one win onthe season heading into the game. The Smokies opened the scoring lessthan 6 minutes in when Tye Lewis split the Express defence, HarrisonMay poked the puck away, but Paul Mailey and followed up and poked the rebound home.

Theopening 20 minutes wasn't the greatest for the Express. They weresloppy coming out of their own end. However, in spite of the poorstart, the Express found a way to pull even before the period was done.Garrick Perry muscled the puck to the front of the net and Matt Ius found the loose puck in the crease and poked it home.

The 2ndperiod which has been Burnaby's best period all season saw the clubimprove their play and they took the lead for the first time 5 minutesinto the period as Luke Challier tapped in a pass at the lip of the crease.

Trail tied it up late in the period on a powerplay. The Smokies won the faceoff in the Express zone, Graeme Strukoff's point shot didn't get through but bounced right to Travis St. Denis who whipped it past Harrison May.

The game didn't remain tied for long, with the Express on a powerplayin the final minute of the period, they got the puck to the net andRich Manley had a great chance in front, he was robbed on his initialshot by Garrett Beckwithwho got most of Manley's shot, but Manley remained persistent andbanged the rebound home to give the Express a 3-2 lead heading into the3rd period.

At this point through 40 minutes, the feeling wasthat the game was far from over. Trail at this point was gainingconfidence and knew they had a shot heading into the final frame.

Trail pulled even 6 minutes into the third period as Justin Brown's screen shot from the right circle beat Harrison May.

6 minutes later, the Smokies took the lead. Chris Van Dyunhovenpinched at the Trail line and didn't get the puck allowing the SmokeEaters to break away on a 2 on 1. Nick Sander's shot was stopped, butformer Surrey Eagle Darnell Dyck put home the rebound to put Trail in the lead.

Now, the Express were in real danger of falling for a 2ndconsecutive game. The Express did manage to tie the game in the finalminute with an extra attacker. Brad Reid found the puck lying in thecrease and roofed a backhand over Beckwith to tie the game at 4 and send it to overtime.

It was Burnaby's 2nd overtime game of the season. They dropped their home opener 4-3 in overtime to Powell River.

Midwaythrough the 4 on 4 overtime the game was decided, Tye Lewis picked upthe puck in his own zone, skated into the Express zone and fired alaser of a wrist shot over the glove of Harrison May to give Trail justtheir 2nd win of the season.

Burnaby didn't play their best game on this night. There were numerous players who struggled vs. the Smoke Eaters.

Dylan Herold's absence due to suspension showed how valuable the captain is to this Express team. Alex Petan and Luke Challier both spent time playing in Herold's spot along side Garrick Perry and Matt Ius and Herold's absence limited the effectiveness of the line.

Thiswas the game that on paper appeared to the the most likely for aBurnaby win, but let a great opportunity slip through their hands.

Shots:

Burnaby 34
Trail 39

Powerplays:

Burnaby 1/4
Trail 1/5

3 stars:

3. Justin Brown – Scored the game tying goal in the third period and added an assist.

2. Matt Ius – 1 goal and 2 assists in a losing cause for the Express.

1. Tye Lewis – Set up the opening goal of the game by Paul Mailey and scored the game winning goal in overtime.

Thefinal stop of the weekend trip through the interior was going to be thetoughest test of them all. The Express paid a visit to the defending RBC Cup Champion Vernon Vipers.

Bothteams were playing their third game in 3 nights. And for Vernon, theywould be a little testy after suffering their first loss in 19 gamesdating back to last seasons playoffs the night before vs. Penticton by a score of 2-0.

Pentictonused a passive trap and patient game and scored on the few chances theyhad as they were able to manage only 15 shots. The Express would needto play a similar type game on this day if they wanted to putthemselves in a position to try and knock off the Vipers.

Thestrategy was working out well for Burnaby in the opening period. Thegame was scoreless after 20 minutes. Both teams had their chances. AlexPetan had 2 quality chances in the opening period.

Both teams also rang shots off the crossbar. Matt Ius did so late in the period for Burnaby and Adam Thompson did the same for Vernon a few minutes later.

Shots were 11-4 in favour of Vernon after the opening 20 minutes.

The Express were shorthanded early in the 2ndperiod with Rich Manley being called for boarding. The Express killedoff the penalty and caught a break when the penalty had expired, theVipers played the puck back to the Burnaby blueline, but the pass split the Viper defenceman and came right to Manley coming out of the penalty box and he went in on the breakaway and deked past Graeme Gordon to give the Express a 1-0 lead.

The goal for Manley extended his point streak. He has a point in all 9 Express games this season.
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