There’s no way to sugar-coat it – the Burnaby Lakers are staring at a difficult climb.
On the heels of two hard-fought and disappointing results to the Nanaimo Timbermen and Victoria Shamrocks last weekend, the defending Western Lacrosse Association regular season champions need a miracle to avoid missing the playoffs.
Saturday’s 12-7 setback in Nanaimo not only pushed the Lakers into a must-win trajectory over their final four games, they also need the T-men to get no more than a single point in their remaining three.
Even Burnaby general manager Kevin Hill admits that it amounts to some very long odds.
“We definitely have our work cut out for us,” said Hill, who took over as Lakers GM seven months ago. “We have to run the table and we need to get some help. It’s not ideal.”
As it was in Friday’s 11-9 loss to Victoria, Burnaby held a tenuous lead at one point in the game but Nanaimo countered and bolted ahead by as much as five.
Up by 4-3 early in the second period, Burnaby suddenly found itself on its heels when Nanaimo rattled off three straight goals to take control of the contest, and eventually a six-point lead in the standings for the final playoff spot.
“We just didn’t have a very good game. We lost (Robert) Church to injury in the Victoria game and we were missing a couple of other players to prior commitments, but no excuses,” said Hill. “We didn’t play disciplined and we just weren’t as sharp as (Nanaimo).”
It was a younger roster taking the floor in the Hub City, but a strong core of veterans were in uniform and everyone knew what was on the line. He was pleased with the efforts of Brandon Luitweiler, a first-year Laker, and call-up Aiden Baker.
"Nanaimo is a much-improved club and they have a goalie who's red-hot right now," added Hill.
Luitweiler tallied twice for the Lakers, with singles by Shaun Dhaliwal, Keegan Letourneau, Joel Matthews, Eli McLaughlin and Dane Stevens. Eric Penney made 39 saves in the loss, as the T-men outshot Burnaby 50-41.
Nanaimo’s Charles Claxton stopped 34 shots for the win. A day later, the T-men's netminder would set a WLA record by scoring two times in their upset win over third-place Maple Ridge.
Against Victoria, it was a similar collapse as Burnaby led 9-8 with 11 minutes left before the visitors fired the final three goals of the night.
The turning point came in the third when the Lakers were tapped with a pair of penalties that gave the Shamrocks back-to-back powerplay chances. They didn't miss.
McLaughlin fended up with three goals, while Scott Jones tallied once and set up six others. Notching two goals each were Brine Rice and Stevens.
Once again, the opposition kept the Burnaby netminder -- Zak Boychuk on Friday -- busy with 47 shots. The Lakers managed just 36 shots against Adam Shute.
The 5-8-1 Lakers visit first-place New Westminster on Thursday, then host Langley on Friday at the Copeland Arena. Both games start at 7:30 p.m. Their final two games of the season are against Langley and, on July 28 in Nanaimo.. Nanaimo also meets Coquitlam and New West.
"The stars have to align for us now, and we've got to play not perfect lacrosse but consistent lacrosse," said Hill.
