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White Rock Whalers edge Knights for second PJHL win

Team has two wins through first nine games of inaugural season
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White Rock Whalers goaltender Zach Everett keeps his eyes on a loose puck during a game against Langley earlier this season. Everett and his White Rock teammates defeated Surrey Thursday night for their second win of the year. (Contributed photo)

Chalk up another win for the White Rock Whalers.

The newest team in the Pacific Junior ‘B’ Hockey League got its second victory of the young season Thursday night at the North Surrey Recreation Centre, defeating their nearby rival Surrey Knights 2-1.

The two struggling clubs – the first-year Whalers sported a 1-6 win-loss record heading into the game, while the Knights were winless – played to a scoreless deadlock through two periods, with the visiting Whalers firing 34 shots on Surrey goalie Naveen Kaith after 40 minutes.

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In the third period, White Rock finally got on the board with a goal from Ryan Kong at the 3:01 mark – with assists to Kalem Burns and Butch La Roue – and White Rock stretched its lead to 2-0 just over a minute later, when rookie forwward Saul Khalifa, 17, lit the lamp.

The Knights made a push a few minutes later, and broke White Rock goalie Zach Everett’s shutout bid 7:42 into the period when Tyler Piluso scored on the power-play, but the Whalers held the fort the rest of the way to notch the victory.

Khalifa – who is second on the Whalers in goals, with three, and is tied for the team-lead in points with seven – was named the game’s first star.

The Whalers followed Thursday’s victory with a loss, dropping a 6-1 game on home ice to the Delta Ice Hawks Saturday night.

Against the Hawks – who are among the leaders in the PJHL’s Tom Shaw Conference with a 5-2-1-1 win-loss-tie-overtime loss record – White Rock fell behind 1-0 early in the first period on a goal from Delta’s Alex Suprynowicz.

In the second, Delta poured on the offence with four straight goals – including another from Suprynowicz and two from Andrew Kemp – and took the 5-0 lead into the second intermission. In the third, the Whalers finally got on the board when Semiahmoo Minor Hockey product Calder Newson notched his third goal of the season, but Delta restored its five-goal cushion before the final whistle on a goal from Jihwan Kim.

The Whalers will begin October on the road, and will travel east to Abbotsford Friday to tackle the Abby Pilots. On Saturday, they’ll return home to White Rock to face the Aldergrove Kodiaks.



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