Flames fall in rematch

The Ridge Meadows Flames dropped their second game in a row to the Delta Ice Hawks Tuesday night, losing 3-2 despite out-shooting the opposition 39-24.

“I thought we were the better team,” said Flames coach Tavis Eaton. “But we ran into a goalie that played real well, and that’s going to happen from time to time.”

The loss is the fourth in the past six games for the Flames, but Eaton is taking the mini-slump in stride. After all, the Flames are still one point out of the top spot in the Pacific International Hockey League’s Harold Brittain Conference.

“These things happen over the course of the season,” said Eaton. “Obviously we’d like to win them all, but the important thing is that the guys are working hard and they’re playing well.”

The Flames fell behind early Tuesday night after Jean Merchan got the Ice Hawks on the board barely three minutes into the game at the Ladner Leisure Centre. But despite out-shooting the Ice Hawks two-to-one in the first period, the Flames could not find an answer to goalie Shanson Lunny, who picked up third-star honours.

The Ice Hawks were up 2-0 early in the second, until CJ Legassic scored the first of his two goals on the night to get the Flames on the board.

A short-handed goal gave the Ice Hawks a two-goal lead midway through the third. Legassic answered back with five minutes to go, but the Flames could not manage to pull even, despite pulling back-up goaltender Tyler Klassen for the extra attacker with 30 seconds left in the game.

“We certainly had our chances,” said Eaton. “We hit a lot of posts and cross-bars, but there’s not much you can do about that.”

Klassen stopped 21 of 24 shots, while Legassic was named the game’s second star.

• The Ridge Meadows Flames host the Abbotsford Pilots tonight [Friday] at Planet Ice in Maple Ridge. Game time is 7:30 p.m.

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