In a matchup that was supposed to take place three days earlier, the Cranbrook Bucks visited the Nanaimo Clippers on Monday night to wrap up their three-game Coastal Conference road trip.
After the game was initially postponed on Friday following a series of interruptions while the Bucks were en route to Frank Crane Arena, it was rescheduled to Monday and made up the final game of the trip rather than the first.
Cranbrook was coming off a blowout loss in Coquitlam on Sunday, and Monday’s contest didn’t get off to a great start either as Nanaimo opened the scoring just 2:25 into the game on a goal from Tyler Wishart.
It took just 37 seconds for the Bucks to respond, however, when Donovan Frias won a face-off back to Ethan Sundar who fired it home for his second goal of the season.
Cranbrook would take the lead at 10:28 of the first when Jarrod Smith finished on a two-on-one with Luke Pfoh for his fifth of the season, also set up by Nick Peluso.
Peluso would get in on the scoring himself three minutes into the second period when he scored an unassisted goal on another quick Cranbrook rush up the ice.
The Clippers pulled back within a goal at 9:28 of the second on a Kai Daniels marker, and it was a 3-2 Bucks lead halfway through the game.
The score would stay that way into the third period until Smith scored his second of the night at 1:04 of the final frame from Cam Kungle and Bauer Morrissey to put Cranbrook up 4-2.
Captain Rhys Bentham added to the lead when he sniped one off the post and in at 6:42 of the third from Sundar and Kungle to give Cranbrook a three-goal advantage.
The Bucks capped off a strong offensive performance with a couple of firsts, as Julian Frias scored his first BCHL goal, while Willem Terwoord picked up an assist for his first point in the league, and Carsyn Good drew the second assist at 16:41 of the final frame.
Despite being outshot 40-31 in the game, Cranbrook soared to a 6-2 win over the Clippers on Monday night.
Smith was the game’s first star after leading the herd with two goals, while Peluso took home third star honours with a goal and an assist for the Bucks.
Nathan Airey made 38 saves in the game to earn second star honours and record his seventh win of the season.
In addition to multi-point nights from Smith and Peluso, Sundar also recorded a goal and an assist, while Kungle notched a pair of helpers.
Bentham and Julian Frias each scored a goal while Donovan Frias, Pfoh, Terwoord, Morrissey, and Good all tallied an assist for a single-point each.
The Bucks improved to 9-6-1 on the season overall and 6-4-1 on the road in the win.
Cranbrook’s next game is at home against the Victoria Grizzlies on Friday, Nov. 12.
The boxscore from Monday’s game can be viewed here courtesy of the BCHL website, and a game recap from the Bucks website is here.
Highlights from the game can be viewed below courtesy of Cranbrook’s YouTube channel.
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