Salmonbellies Win Second Game In As Many Nights

The Bellies Beat by Kyle Richardson NEW WESTMINSTER – For the second straight night, the New Westminster Salmonbellies came out on top. In a physical affair from the first shift until the final whistle the Bellies walked away with an 8-6 win over the visiting Maple Ridge Burrards. New West now sits alone in second place in the W-L-A standings with a 6-3-1 record and trail first place Victoria by one point, although the Shamrocks have three games in hand. Following a 2-2 first period, the Bellies decided to match the Burrards run and gun style of play in the second frame. New West took a 5-3 advantage into the final period thanks to killing off three penalties in the second period. The Bellies came out flying in the third, scoring two quick goals, however the Burrards replied with two of their own to only trail 7-5 with just under nine minutes to play. Offensive stud Jordan Hall capped off maybe the shift of the season for New West with about four minutes left in the game. After controlling the ball for over two minutes, picking up loose balls after three separate shots, Hall walked through the Burrard defence and buried his third goal of the night to give the Bellies an 8-5 lead and pretty much sealed the game for the home squad. It was their second win against Maple Ridge this year having already beaten them 8-7 in late May. Cliff Smith had a breakout game, with three goals and two assists, picking up his first hat-trick of the 2009 season, while his line mate Jordan Hall also picked up a hat-trick along with an assist for a four point. Goalie Ty Richards was solid in net stopping 34 of 40 shots thrown his way to collect his third win of the campaign. Faceoff specialist Bobby Snider was superb in the faceoff circle, controlling the ball off the draw for the majority of the game. (Cliff Smith had a 5 point night) After a second win in a row veteran Chris Gill was quick to point out the team still has room for improvement, “Were getting closer to how we played last year…But we still have a lot of work to do.” Fifth year player Kyle Ross says the team needs to keep building on these wins, “ Every shift we have to be a little bit better...We’ve still got eight games to go, and we can play a lot better.” The Bellies will now have time to rest up, as they don’t play until Friday the 26th when they travel to Bill Copeland arena to play the Burnaby Lakers.