It’s been a few weeks now, but members of the Burnaby Lakers’ bantam A2 lacrosse team have every right to still be on Cloud 9 right now.
The boxla group achieved an association rare feat when it capped the season by beating Saanich 5-4 in a dramatic final and walked off the floor at provincial champion.
Ian Marian scored twice and Marcus Klarich counted a goal and two assists, as Burnaby held on to finish the tournament a perfect 5-0. Rounding out the offence was Ronin Sakamoto.
Collecting the Warrior Sports Canada Most Valuable Player award was lefthanded Thomas Vela.
“He’s generally been our offensive leader, when we needed a goal or a big play, (Vela) would deliver it,” said Burnaby coach Rusty Wills, who was assisted by former senior A sniper Randy Jones.
To get to the final, the Lakers toppled Prince George 7-3 in the semifinal.
The tourney saw Burnaby continue on from where the left off in the Lower Mainland playdowns – which was to remain unbeaten.
They blanked Killarney 6-0 in the opener, trounced Richmond 8-3 in their second test, and wrapped up the round-robin portion with a 5-2 win over Nanaimo.
They outscored the opposition 31-12 over five games, getting standout netminding throughout from all-star Jackson Murphy-Johnson.
Sakamoto was selected as the team’s FairPlay award recipient.
Ever since they advanced out of the teiring round, the Lakers have gone undefeated. Their biggest challenge came in the final regular season game against Richmond.
Trailing 4-1, Burnaby awoke and scored eight unanswered goals.
