The Pilots’ win-streak ended at 10 games last Friday, as they came up on the losing end of an overtime thriller against Port Moody.
After conceding the first goal of the game to the Panthers’ Alistair Lind, the Pilots exploded for 4 goals in 4 minutes, courtesy of Cody Johnston, Caleb Fedrau, and Alen Isovic (twice), to exit the first period with a 4-1 lead. However, the Panthers rallied back, and despite Pilots goals from Noah Weinberger in the 2nd and Alen Isovic (for his second career PJHL hat trick) in the 3rd, the Panthers took a 7-6 victory in overtime. Isaac Cheng scored the winner. Josh Zulke stopped 37 shots in the loss.
The Pilots have an opportunity to bounce back this weekend, though it will be difficult as they face second-place Cloverdale, whom they dethroned on October 22nd. Cloverdale has since been handed a second loss at the hands of the Mission City Outlaws in Mission on Halloween night. Matthew Shehyn still rides the coattails of Cody Johnston for second in league scoring, followed by teammates Ashton Holbech and Keenan Connor in the top 10. The key for the Pilots will be to keep those players off the power play and the scoresheet, something they had difficulty with in the last matchup.
The Pilots will then host the Aldergrove Ironmen, who have struggled since their first win in nearly 100 games on October 10th, losing 5 straight (including one in overtime to the Pilots on October 14th). Jake Ehr is running away with the team lead in points, whose 19 in 12 games puts him on pace to be their first point-per-game player since 2021-22. The Pilots will look to shut him down while putting the puck in the net – something they have excelled at, scoring at least 6 goals in each of their last 4 games.
Cody Johnston has widened the gap at the top of league scoring, now having 42 points in just 17 games. Jaxson Lafortune still sits atop goalie stats in save percentage (0.934sv%) and goals against average (2.43) and has yet to lose in regulation at 10-0-1.
Upcoming games:
Thursday, November 5 @ Cloverdale – 7:00pm – Cloverdale Arena
Friday, November 6 vs Aldergrove – 7:30pm – MSA Arena
