A couple of shots off the goalie cage and some untimely penalties stood between a possible provincial medal finish for the midget A2 Burnaby Lakers.
The Lakers played one of their best games of the year, despite losing 6-5 in overtime to eventual finalist Kamloops in their opening game of the B.C. Lacrosse Association midget A2 provincial championships in Port Coquitlam on July 12.
In their second game of the day, Burnaby fell behind 7-3 to eventual champion Cowichan Valley before a late rally left the Lakers on the losing end of a 7-6 score line.
On Saturday, Burnaby defeated Port Coquitlam 72 to finish 1-2 in arguably the toughest pool of the division.
"A break or two and maybe a lucky bounce off the post in one of those first two games and maybe the results would have been different," said Burnaby midget A2 co-coach Rusty Wills. "All in all, we were pretty proud of our boys the way they fought through the playoffs to make it through to the provincials. It was quite an achievement just to get to provincials."
Marcus Vela was named to the provincial all-star team, while Cory Sinclair won the fair play award.
It was the third straight year that Burnaby has gone to the minor provincial tournament.
"With next year being the last year of minor lacrosse for most of these guys, I'm sure they will be eager to get back there again and try to come away with a medal this time," Wills said.
Cowichan defeated Kamloops 9-1 in the goldmedal final.
New Westminster won the A1 gold final, 4-3 over Port Coquitlam.
At the peewee provincials in Richmond, Burnaby's C team finished 0-3 despite an 8-7 loss to Cowichan Valley in its opening game.
PoCo defeated New West 5-3 in the peewee A1 final. New West won the A2 gold 3-2 over Ridge Meadows.
