It’s back to the basics for the Burnaby Lakers following a dismal home opening 15-8 loss to the Langley Thunder.
The senior A Lakers, playing their first game of the Western Lacrosse Association season on Tuesday, their new home game night, looked like they needed a lesson in basic passing and catching against the more polished offence of the Thunder.
Langley’s first-round draft pick Anthony Malcom claimed a game star with his first WLA hat trick, including the game’s opening two goals, while Athan Iannucci posted a game-high eight points, including a hat trick of his own.
Langley’s Patrick Saunders scored four times for the winners. Alex Turner also wore the hat for the visiting Thunder.
Jason Jones was the best of the Burnaby bunch, tallying six points, including a pair of third-period goals.
“We struggled with (passing and catching),” said Burnaby’s Neil Arbogast after the game. “We were not breaking out properly, which is usually a strength of our game. We need more of that. …There was not enough buzz in the arena.”
The only humming noise at the Bill Copeland Sports Centre was the swoosh of balls billowing the back mesh in the Laker nets.
Langley led 4-1 after the first period and upped that advantage to 10-3 late in the middle frame before Burnaby began to find the target on Brodie MacDonald.
Joe Bell stopped 33 Thunder shots on goal in the Burnaby cage.
“We capitalized early tonight,” said Malcom, the game’s first star. “We like to break it down to three periods and I think we won all three periods.”
Burnaby has a week off before hosting Nanaimo for the first time at the Copeland centre on Tuesday, June 9.
