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Church in a rush to bring playoff race to Burnaby

If he was a little tired, it didn’t show. The Burnaby Lakers’ Robert Church looked none the worse for wear in Tuesday’s Lakers’ 7-6 loss to the New Westminster Salmonbellies.
Church plays
Burnaby's Robert Church made his 2016 debut with the Lakers on Tuesday, a few days after helping pilot the Saskatchewan Rush to the NLL championship final.

If he was a little tired, it didn’t show.
The Burnaby Lakers’ Robert Church looked none the worse for wear in Tuesday’s Lakers’ 7-6 loss to the New Westminster Salmonbellies.
It came just days after Church helped the Saskatchewan Rush rack up the franchise’s second-straight National Lacrosse League championship crown.
The sniper finished Tuesday’s Western Lacrosse Association game with a goal and two assists, while Scott Jones led all Burnaby shooters with a pair of tallies.
“It was actually pretty good pace (Tuesday),” said Church. “It’s weird with no stops every five minutes, you don’t get as much time to compose yourself or set up offensive plays but it was a good pace. (New West) is a good team so it was fun.”
But not as fun when you win.
That’s what the Rush did for the second straight year, in a different town.
Relocated from Edmonton to start the 2016 NLL season, the team continued its juggernaut ways right to the final, but needed a heroic rally in the fourth quarter to emerge 11-10 winners over the Buffalo Bandits.
Church counted both of his goals in the final quarter, separated by just 56 seconds. His first tally pulled the teams even, and the Coquitlam minor product put Saskatchewan ahead 10-9 before Buffalo’s Kevin Brownell deadlocked the game 11 seconds later.
It took a transitional breakaway marker by Jeff Cornwall, who toils for New West in the summer, with just 12 seconds remaining in regulation, to lift Saskatchewan to a second consecutive title.
“It was almost the identical outcome (to 2015) – a last minute goal... It was a little different being in Saskatoon, with a sellout crowd. The fans there are incredible,” said Church. “In Edmonton we had a lot of loyal fans but just not that many. In Saskatoon, these guys are nuts. They love their sports teams.”
Back in Burnaby, Church would like nothing better than to steer the Lakers into a playoff spot. That’s why, even while fatigued and without any practice, he refused to take a week off and instead suited up on Tuesday, joined by highly prized rookie Josh Byrne.
“It’s hard to get in there without a practice or anything, we’re still working things out so I think we’ll get a lot better over the season.”

Burnaby had a large advantage in shots, out-firing New West 59-37. Bellies netminder Eric Penney proved to be the toughest hurdle, and the main reason the visitors exited with the two points.

Byrne contributed a goal and two assists, while Mike Brascia and Eli McLaughlin rounded out the offence in the loss to New West. The No. 1 selection in the 2016 WLA junior draft, Byrne demonstrated strong chemistry working the give-and-go with Jones and Church, despite making his debut after finishing up his playing season and studies for the year at Hofstra University.

Church said that with all the new faces -- McLaughlin was acquired in a swap with Nanaimo in the offseason -- chemistry isn't guaranteed. But in his one game, he saw a lot of hopeful signs.

"I’ve never seen (Byrne) play, he’s three, four years younger. Him, McLaughlin, Spencer Stevens -- I’ve never played with them," noted Church. "There are a lot of new faces… They are all good players so it’ll be easy to adjust. The skills there but we just need to figure things out."

Burnaby hosts Maple Ridge on Tuesday, 7:45 p.m. at the Copeland Centre.