The New Westminster Salmonbellies senior team beat Nanaimo and Victoria in their last two games, but both games ended with a very tight score. Last Thursday’s game against the Nanaimo Timbermen ended 8-7, and Sunday’s game in Victoria against the Shamrocks gave the ‘Bellies at 9-8 win.
The game against the Victoria Shamrocks “tested the depth” of the team, general manager Dan Richardson said, as the team had just heard the news about the death the night before of Olivia Malcom, who was a part of the lacrosse community in New West.
The ‘Bellies played their game missing seven regular players, three of whom were cousins of Olivia.
“It was a really tough day on Sunday,” Richardson said, adding that although their focus is lacrosse, “life and family is way more important than that.”
New West opened with a goal within the first two minutes and would hold the 1-0 lead for the first half of the period, until Victoria started finding gaps. The first period ended with the capital city leading 5-4. The Bellies were able to retaliate in the third and scored three goals while Victoria scored one, with the period ending 7-6 for the Bellies. With even scoring in the third period, two goals apiece, the final score was 9-8 for the Royal City team.
“We really tested the depth of our organization and the young guys really stepped up,” Richardson said. This included two goals by Lyndon Bunio, who was playing his first Western Lacrosse Association game.
In last Thursday’s game against the Timbermen, scoring was sparse in the first period, which ended in a 2-2 draw. The first half of the period was a dry spell for both teams and it wasn’t until past the 11-minute mark that Nanaimo scored into the New West net. Within two minutes, Nanaimo was leading 2-0.
It took a power-play situation for the ‘Bellies’ Jordan McBride to finally get the ball past the Nanaimo netminder, bringing the score to 2-1. With another goal from McBride, the score was tied 2-2 at the end of the first period.
The second period started as a déjà vu of the first with first two goals from Nanaimo, then two from New West. After a back-and-forth between nets, the second period ended 5-5.
The third period saw almost even scoring, but the ‘Bellies managed one more than the Timbermen giving them a slight edge and the win over the visiting Island team.
With three wins and no losses, the ‘Bellies are at the top of their division.
The Salmonbellies play the Langley Thunder tonight (Thursday) at Queen’s Park Arena. Game time is 7:30 p.m. There will be a moment of silence for Olivia Malcom as well as fundraisers for the Olivia Malcom Kindness Bursary.
Junior lacrosse
The New West Salmonbellies Junior A team beat the Delta Islanders in back-to-back games at the Ladner Leisure Centre. Thursday night, the ‘Bellies beat the Delta team 14-7 and on Saturday, 18-8.
Thursday’s night game saw the ‘Bellies outscoring Delta 4-3 in the first period. They then dominated the second period, scoring eight goals while only letting in one from Delta. The third period evened out with back-and-forth goals from each team with the game ending 14-7 in favour of the New West team.
Saturday’s game mirrored Thursday’s as the ‘Bellies dominated again in the second period after a 5-3 score in the first. The third period once again evened out somewhat, but the New West team still
The junior Salmonbellies have postponed their June 10 game against the Nanaimo Timbermen as a celebration of life for Olivia Malcom will take place at Queen’s Park Arena at 2 p.m.
