In Trail Commercial Hockey League action, Arlington handed Allstar its sixth loss in a row, dealing a blow to any regular-season-title aspirations the team enjoyed when they led the league a month ago.
The Arlington’s Jeremy Robinson scored a hat trick and added two assists to lift the Big A to a 6-5 victory over Allstar on Saturday. Robinson opened the scoring five minutes in on a pass from Kevin Santori, but three straight Allstar goals by Colton Semenok, Tim Boucher, and Evan McKay would give Allstar a momentary 3-1 lead. However, the ‘A’ worked their way back. Robinson, a former standout for the Mount Royal College Cougars, sniped a set up from Pat Iannone 19 minutes into the first, and would assist on a Darryl Zol goal before the period was out to make it 3-3.
The Arlington’s Kirk Davis netted the winnner 12 minutes into the second period, taking a pass from Derek Harkema and Robinson to put Arlington up for good. Robinson would net his hat trick three minutes later, and Fruitvale native Iannone closed out the scoring early in the third for his league-leading 38th goal and 84th point. Robinson’s five-point night puts him six points back of his linemate with 20-58-78 for second place in league scoring.
Three points separate second place Allstar and fourth-place Arlington, while OK Tire moved to within two points of second with a 5-4 win over Allstar on Thursday. Re/Max meanwhile is running away with top spot and looking for its second straight regular-season title, having won five games in a row including a dramatic victory over Gericks on Thursday. The fifth place Gericks sits six points out of playoff contention with time running out on the season.
Re/Max continued its torrid pace thanks to a late third period goal by Thomas Abenante that lifted the realtors over Gericks 6-5.
Re/Max jumped out to a 2-1 lead on goals from Devyn Hill and Luke Russel. Dyne Parker made it 3-1 before Nathan Stanton replied for Gericks five minutes into the second. But two goals from three-time TCHL scoring champion Graham Proulx made it 5-2 for Re/Max midway through the second. Stanton would cut the lead to 5-3 and Eric Hill would score his second and third of the night to tie it 5-5 four minutes into the third period. Re/Max’s Abenante then tallied his 26th of the season on an unassisted effort in the game’s final minute to give Re/Max its league-leading 16th victory.
In a last-goal-wins match up, Tire’s defenceman Paul Matteucci fed Jeff Sidey who broke a 5-5 tie with his ninth goal of the season just seconds left in the middle frame to give the OK Tire the win over Allstar on Thursday. Troy Palmer had two goals and an assist while Matteucci and the team’s most prolific scoring defenceman, Darrin Kissock, added the other goals for OK Tire. Kelly Sidoni, Evan McKay, and Scott Morrisseau each had a goal and an assist for Allstar.
TCHL action continues on Thursday night, with Arlington playing Re/Max at 7:15 p.m. and Gericks facing off against Allstar at 8:30 p.m.