The Mission City Outlaws split their final two games of the regular season this past weekend as they head into the PJHL playoffs.
The Outlaws picked up a 6-1 win over the Abbotsford Pilots on Friday night (Feb. 10) at MSA Arena to secure a season-long seven game win streak. Kyle Sackmann earned the first star of the game for Mission after a two-goal performance and Brian Dale continued his strong stretch of play between the pipes, making 28 saves in the win.
Carson Garneau opened the scoring for Mission on the power play midway through the first period. The Outlaws returned to the power play late in the frame and Joshua Romeyn capitalized to extend the lead to 2-0 heading into the intermission.
Sackmann scored the Outlaws’ third consecutive power play goal halfway through the second period and James Veitch found the back of the net as well to make it 4-0. Abbotsford’s Cody Johnston beat Dale late in the second to get the Pilots on the scoreboard heading into the locker room.
Sackmann notched his second goal of the game eight minutes into the third and Rowan Zapisocki scored shorthanded with two seconds remaining to give Mission a 6-1 victory and extend their winning streak to seven games.
READ MORE: Mission’s Brian Dale named a PJHL player of the week
In the regular season finale on Saturday night (Feb. 11) at Mission Leisure Centre, the Outlaws had their winning streak snapped by the first-place Langley Trappers 4-2. The defending PJHL champions out of Langley held on after an explosive first period that saw them take a 3-1 lead. Trappers’ captain Hayden Yahn was the lone player to tally two points with a goal and an assist.
The game remained scoreless for 12 minutes before Langley’s Patrick Coopman opened the floodgates with an unassisted goal. Trappers’ forward Ryden Mathieson scored his 20th goal of the season about five minutes later before Brayden Chenier answered for Mission to cut the lead in half. However, Austin Ungurean found the back of the net late for Langley to extend the lead to 3-1 after 20 minutes.
A scoreless second period saw the Trappers outshoot the Outlaws 10-5 and kill off a pair of penalties. Mission earned another power play early in the third period and Brendan Chabot made the most of the opportunity, cutting the lead down to 3-2. The Outlaws couldn’t complete the comeback and Yahn iced the game with his 25th of the season with just five minutes remaining.
Mission finishes the season in third place in the Harold Brittain conference with a 28-20 record and 56 points. The Outlaws will face the second-place Ridge Meadows Flames in a best-of-seven series in the first round of the playoffs.
@dillon_white
dillon.white@missioncityrecord.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.