The Nanaimo Timbermen and Coquitlam Adanacs met at the Coquitlam Sports Centre Saturday for the second of three meetings this season. The Adanacs won the first matchup in Week 4 by a score of 14-8. However, both teams came into the game with a 5-5 record, looking not only to stay above .500, but take sole possession of third place in the standings. Robert Church had a hat trick in his season debut, and Coquitlam used a big third period to double up Nanaimo 12-6, improving to 6-5 on the season while taking sole possession of third place in the WLA standings.
Nanaimo takes early lead, but Adanacs rally in second period
Nanaimo got on the scoreboard first when Nolan Ross scored at the 8:31 mark. Robert Church, making his season debut for Coquitlam, evened the score just 22 seconds later. The Timbermen then went up 3-1 on goals from Andrew Bowman (9:37) and Caelan Mander (12:35). David Charney (15:49) cut the lead to 3-2 after the first period.
Logan Schmidt pushed Nanaimo’s lead back to two (4:33) to open the second period, but the Adanacs responded with a three-goal run. Charney (5:23), Church (7:21), and Kean Moon (9:14) put Coquitlam up 5-4. Bowman’s second goal (12:00) tied the game at 5-5 before Adam Noakes (14:51) gave the Adanacs a 6-5 lead heading into the third period.
Coquitlam explodes in the third period to move above .500
Noah Manning tied the game for the Timbermen once more at 6-6, but from there it was all Adanacs. A second marker from Noakes (1:45), a second from Moon (5:40), and Church’s hat trick goal (7:36) made it 9-6. Charney then scored back-to-back (12:00; 12:59), and Connor Robinson closed the scoring with a power play goal (16:33). Coquitlam swept the game awards, with Charney (4g, 1a) getting 1st Star of the Game, Church (3g, 2a) earning 2nd Star, and Robinson (1g, 4a) taking 3rd Star honors. Christian Del Bianco made 34 saves in the win.
The Timbermen fall to 5-6 with the loss, tied in the win column with New Westminster for the fourth and final playoff spot. Colby Bowman stopped 26 of 38 shots in the loss, and Tyler Kloeckl won 10 of 19 faceoffs. Nanaimo travels to Langley next Wednesday before hosting Maple Ridge on Saturday and Victoria on Sunday. Coquitlam plays at Burnaby on Tuesday before hosting them on Saturday.
