The Langley Trappers season comes to an end after a Survivor Series game 3 Overtime goal scored by Johnny Lopez of the Surrey Knights. The 4th seeded Trappers entered the Harold Brittain Conference Survivor Series seeing the conferences 4th seed square off against the 5th seed in a best of 3 series. The Trappers entered the series with a 22-24-0-2-0 Regular Season record, good enough for 46 points, 1 point shy of 3rd place held by the Abbotsford Pilots with 47 points. the 46 point campaign was good for a 10th place finish in the League standings. “At the end of the day, we aren’t happy with the teams showing this season and are actively addressing the key issues which resulted on our below average performance” said Coach Bakken when asked to reflect on the season. The team went through its fair share of up’s and down’s. It was an advantageous request for the team to compete with one 20-year-old to begin the season. “We went with a young roster for the second year in a row with an effort to develop and will young players to compete up and down the ice” said Bakken. The Trappers finished the 2024 season as the youngest Jr. Hockey team in the province of BC. Though young, the team was able to retain a lot returning players for the 24-25 season. However, losing guys like Mason Russell to the Whitecourt Wolverines of the AJHL and Maddox Osaka to the Surrey Eagles of the BCHL, were large holes needed to be filled.
The season began with a 6-4 record through the first ten games. However, the team couldn’t seem to pull away in the standings and hovered around the .500 mark for the entirety of the season. the January 10th trade deadline saw a flurry of moves with an effort to acquire good young talent with James Campbell, Dalton Toma, and Armaan Kaila to set up the playoff run as well as to begin posturing for next season. But, not everything goes to plan in the current world of Junior Hockey as 1 of the teams 2 (capped at 2) 2008 born, sixteen-year-olds, Avraham Brown, who was the teams first line right-winger, was given the opportunity to join the Langley Rivermen of the BCHL. Unfortunately, the timing of Avrahams move left the Trappers short handed as roster additions within the rules of Hockey Canada sanctioned teams were locked on February 10th, the day before Browns BCHL signing. The team prepared for a hungry Surrey team who was looking to get by the Survivor round for the first time in 3 attempts. The Knights took game 1 by a score of 4-1. The Trappers rebounded with a game 2, 5-4OT win coming off the stick of Dalton Toma. Game 3 was a winner take all scenario. The Trappers came out heavy and earned a 2 goal lead before the nights scored a late goal to enter the 1st intermission down by 1. The game was back and forth with the Knights taking a late lead 4-3, before Ryan Howe tied the game at 4-4, two minutes before the endow the third period. It simply wasn’t meant to be for the Trappers as the Surrey knights capitalized off a hard forecheck and pass to the high slot where Defenseman Johnny Lopez made no mistake one-timing the puck pat Kaila’s blocker.
The Langley Trappers want to thank all the families, players, volunteers, and fans for joining us this season. The team is in a good position with good quality young athletes who are driven for more. We are looking forward to getting back on the ice and preparing for the 25-26 season
