It had drama, thrills and tension.
Unfortunately for the Burnaby Lakers players and fans, there was also a heap of disappointment.
The Victoria Shamrocks won the battle of the green jerseys, advancing to the Western Lacrosse Association final by besting Burnaby 8-7 before a crowd of about 1,000 fans at the Copeland Sports Centre on Tuesday.
The result, which was Victoria’s second year of outlasting the Lakers over a seven-game series, rested greatly upon netminder Aaron Bold, who stood his ground over a barrage of Burnaby shots.
Certainly the Lakers could have established a stronger presence on Bold’s crease and used a fast-break goal or two. But there is no Marty McFly or a time-travelling DeLorean waiting in the Burnaby Lake parking lot.
Burnaby held thin leads for the first half of the game, but looked a little nervous doing it. Eli McLaughlin and Jackson Decker put the Lakers up 2-1 after 20 minutes, but the squad wasn’t able to truly capitalize on a five-minute high sticking major handed to Victoria’s Gregg Harnett. The powerplay produced a goal just 31 seconds into the second, on a Robert Church blast from the slot, but Victoria countered with a shorthanded tally by Tyler Hass a minute later.
The ’Rocks pulled even midway through the frame on ex-Burnaby sniper Casey Jackson’s extra-man marker – just 11 seconds into Victoria’s powerplay – but the Lakers retook the lead when Josh Byrne tallied with 8:31 left in the second period.
However, it was Byrne’s only goal of the game, as Bold had the New West native’s number the rest of the evening. While only credited with six shots, Byrne had nearly a dozen more in-tight attempts go wide or clang off the iron.
Victoria then got on a roll, getting goals from Chris Wardle and Joe Resetarits 50 seconds apart to stake out the lead for the first time. The biggest hit on Burnaby came with time winding down and a loose ball within reach, only to see Jackson scoop it up and fire it past Eric Penney just as the period expired. That put the Lakers behind by two and with 10 minutes to dwell on it.
They responded well when Dane Stevens converted a nice set-up from Byrne 2:05 into the third frame, but Resetarits connected for his third of the night and 11th of the series, on a delayed penalty call, just minutes after Bold stopped Justin Salt and McLaughlin on half-breakaways.
Jackson put the ’Rocks ahead by three with 5:37 to play, putting the onus on the Lakers to pull a big rally out of their equipment bag.
Burnaby made a serious push and scored twice with Penney on the bench, but by the time Decker netted his second of the game there was only 12 seconds left on the clock.
Just as the talent on paper gave the home team the advantage, so did the shots. The Lakers outshot Victoria 56-39, including 25 shots in the third, but left the building thinking what could have been.
“Not the way we wanted it to go,” Burnaby coach Peter Tellis said. “The guys battled hard and worked hard and competed to their best ability. It’s unfortunate that we made a couple of mistakes along the way, but we can’t take anything away from Victoria. They are a good team. They came out and played their best and we came up just a little short.”
Byrne finished with a goal and three assists, while Stevens had three points. The ’Rocks also got a hat trick from Jackson, while Corey Small chipped in three assists.
The coach, who took over behind the bench after management fired Jim Milligan with three games remaining in the regular season, said he was proud of the players and how they pushed it to the limits. Sometimes the result just doesn’t go the way you want, he said.
“It sucks in Game 7 that the bounces in lacrosse needed to go well but unfortunately today they didn’t. Yes, (Victoria has) some experience, but we’ve got plenty of experience in this room. I don’t think it played a part in it. Maybe it did, but I don’t think it did. The fact is we play what’s on the floor, and I could care less what happened last year or years previous; we’re playing six inches in front of our face.”
As to his evaluation on the season and experience, Tellis said there would be time for that later.
“I haven’t even thought that far, to tell you the truth. This is pretty fresh, it still stings,” he said. “It stings for the guys in the room, it stings. It’s going to take some time to get over, to evaluate this last part of the season, how things went and what went well and continue to build off the positives.”
Victoria now goes on to play the New Westminster Salmonbellies, who advanced Wednesday with an overtime win over Maple Ridge. The final starts tonight (Friday), 6 p.m. at Queen’s Park Arena. Game 2 goes Sunday in Victoria, and returns to Queen's Park on Tuesday (Aug. 22). All games start at 6 p.m.
The B.C. champions will host the Mann Cup championship series next month.
