BY: BEN LYPKA, MISSION CITY RECORD
There just wasn't enough effort from the Mission City Outlaws on Saturday.
Playing in essentially a meaningless game, the Outlaws kept pace with the Abbotsford Pilots until mid-way through the second period when the game unraveled.
Outlaws head coach Brad Veitch said it wasn't one of his team's better efforts.
"I thought we played for about 10 minutes of the 60," he said. "We were really depleted up front, and were down to nine forwards heading into the game. All the penalties didn't help, and it was hard to get anything going."
Abbotsford opened up the scoring when Jamie Housch scored at 9:18, and Brady Morton made it 2-0 just 68 second later on the power play. Mission's Sammy Zeinab tallied at 13:46 to make it a 2-1 game after one.
Outlaws forward Nicolas Bizzutto tied the game up at 3:32 of the second, but from there it was all Pilots. Mitch Plevy on the power play, Travis Halladay and Mateo Toledo all scored in the second to make it 5-2 after two.
Former Outlaws star Kolby Steen scored the the lone goal of the third period to make it a 6-2 final.
The Outlaws wrap up the PJHL regular season tomorrow (Sunday) when they host the Delta Ice Hawks at 8:15 p.m. The game was originally scheduled for earlier this month, but poor weather postponed it.
Mission opens round one of the playoffs against the top-ranked Aldergrove Kodiaks in Aldergrove on Tuesday and Wednesday. The series shifts to Mission for games three and four on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday's game occurs at 6:45 p.m., while Sunday gets going at 8:15 p.m.
For more on the series, read Friday's print edition of the Mission City Record.