Shayne Battler is living up to his last name.
He's battled his way into the hearts of his new Langley Rivermen teammates.
They absolutely love what the 20-year-old goalie has done to help the Rivermen win games. Like what he did to the Prince George Spruce Kings Friday night at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena, making 30 saves for his first B.C. Hockey League shutout in a 4-0 victory.
"It was awesome, the guys played great in front of me and made my job easy out there," said Battler, a native of Cobourg, Ont. "It's always special when you come into another team's rink on a long road trip and take two points out of that."
The Rivermen acquired the 20-year-old Battler's rights in a future considerations deal Nov. 18 with the Cochrane Crunch of Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League and he's adjusted exceptionally well to playing in the BCHL.
Battler played his first game for Langley Nov. 20 in a relief appearance and stopped all 14 shots he faced on a 7-5 comeback win over Coquitlam. He followed that by blocking 31 of 33 shots the next night in a 2-1 loss to Chilliwack and came up with 41 saves in an overtime win over Salmon Arm on Wednesday.
Most of the more dangerous shots he faced Friday came while the Spruce Kings had the pressure on during their six power-play opportunities. Battler made it look easy, staying square to the shooters and offering very few rebounds. He took one away from Ben Poisson late in the game while lying nonchalantly in his crease as he stuck out his trapper to grab the puck.
"I think at the end there when they squeezed, he's a guy who has that experience, he's been there before and he was calm like a duck back there," said Rivermen head coach and general manager Bobby Henderson. "He's confident right now and excited about the opportunity and we're excited to have that depth in net - with him and (19-year-old Braedon) Fleming we've got two of the top goaltenders in the league."
The loss dropped the Spruce Kings' record to 20-8-1-2. They came in to the rink first-overall in the BCHL, one point ahead of the Chilliwack Chiefs. Langley (14-14-1-0) remains fourth in the Mainland Division. Chilliwack (22-9-0-0) won 3-2 in a shootout Friday in Surrey to regain top spot in the league.
After generating a couple of good scoring chances in the early going the game took an ominous turn for the Spruce Kings 11 minutes in when Daneel Lategan stole the puck while shorthanded and turned on the jets to beat defenceman Nick Bochen down the right wing side. Lategan went to his backhand side as he dragged the puck across the crease and lifted a high shot in over the shoulder of goalie Logan Neaton.
Two more goals in the second period, one at even strength, one on the power play, put the Rivermen comfortably in command. Both were tap-ins from close range set up by crisp passes. Chase Pietzke took a cross-ice feed from William Stromp and batted it in for his fourth of the season just before the five-minute mark of the period.
Then it was Jake Livingstone's turn to light the lamp. He was set up by Trevor Ayre while standing just off the post. That came just eight seconds after Kings winger Cory Cunningham began serving a slashing penalty.
Livingstone scored the first goal of a 2-1 Rivermen win over the Spruce Kings in Prince George on Nov. 10. That came one night after the Kings trounced Langley 8-1. Prince George won both games in Langley this season (4-3 on Sept. 29, 2-1 on Oct. 20) and still holds a 3-2 edge in the season series.
"I think since that Friday (8-1) loss we had a good bounce-back Saturday and we've been playing real well since then," said Henderson. "We kind of bottomed out there and it was a rallying point for our group and the boys have come together and are playing their best hockey over this stretch.
"We were fortunate to capitalize on our opportunities and I'm not nave, I don't think that was one of Prince George's best games. Mr. Neaton, I'm sure, would like to have a couple of those back and I'm sure they'll bounce back tomorrow."
The Spruce Kings were their own worst enemies at times and their usually steady blueliners had their troubles mishandling the puck which limited their time in the offensive zone and created opportunities for the Rivermen.
"We weren't very crisp with the puck tonight," said Kings head coach Adam Maglio. "Three or four of their goals were results from bad turnovers and if we clean up our puck management it should have been the close hockey game we expected. Langley plays us tough and they're a good team in our rink especially and have been since I've been in Prince George.
"It's a little deflating with how we got scored on. The energy starts to drop a bit and we'll clean that up tomorrow and go to work. We've got to be better for sure."
Langley did not get a ton of great looks at the net but made the most of its opportunities. Like when Ayre came in and made Neaton look bad when he scored on a rather routine wrist shot, 2:03 in to the third period. It was just one of those nights the Kings will want to forget.
"It was tough, they came out strong and our compete just wasn't there," said Kings right winger Nolan Welsh. "We made a few errors that they capitalized on but overall I didn't think we played too bad. We just have to regroup and be better tomorrow."
LOOSE PUCKS: A crowd of 1,124 took in Friday's game. The rematch starts tonight at 7 p.m. at RMCA... Xavier Cannon, the goalie the Kings called up from the Cariboo Cougars midget team, drew his first BCHL action when he came in to replace Neaton with 2:03 left. He stopped all five shots he faced...The Kings announced Friday they've acquired 18-year-old goalie Keenan Rancier. The six-foot, 176-pound Victoria native has played two games in the Vancouver Island Junior (B) Hockey League for the Nanaimo Buccaneers (3.53 goals-against average .917 save percentage) and appeared in five games this season in the BCHL for the Victoria Grizzlies (5.92 GAA, .837 save percentage). He takes the place of Bradley Cooper, the 19-year-old goalie the Kings traded this week to Vernon for right winger Garrett Worth. Lancier spent last season with the Penticton-based Okanagan Hockey Academy Prep team (2.29 average, .921 save percentage in 22 games).
