The Burnaby Lakers are mired in a log jam for last place in the Western Lacrosse Association following back-to-back losses last week.
The senior A Lakers played a sound 40 minutes despite playing with a depleted lineup against the as-yet unbeaten New Westminster Salmonbellies before falling 9-8 at Queen’s Park Arena last Thursday. Burnaby were then stoned 7-3 by a hot Coquitlam Adanacs goalie at the Poirier centre on Saturday.
The week began with a promising comeback win over visiting Nanaimo on June 9.
But that promise lost most of its air in the final 20 minutes against the Salmonbellies.
Leading 7-4 heading into the final frame, Burnaby gave up five straight goals before Jackson Decker got one back with just a second left in the Western Lacrosse Association league matchup.
“Tonight, everyone was working hard. We had to be,” Decker said after the game.
Playing without frontrunners Robert Church, Tyler Digby and Casey Jackson, Burnaby got solid outings from its two offensive lines, including Jason Jones, with two goals in a five-point night.
The two teams played it even until midway through the second period, when Jason Jones sparked a three-goal mini run for Burnaby in the final three-plus minutes. Jones had a point in all three goals, including the second of the night from righthander Scott Jones and Shaun Dhaliwal’s long shot in the final minute that gave Burnaby its biggest lead of the night.
But all the hard work went for naught in the third, when Jimmy McBride started things off with a goal off a screen from the right side. Patrick Miles closed the gap even further with a transition tally and then veteran Tyler Crompton caught everyone napping and scored off a trick play to knot the game at 7-7.
A minute later, first star Logan Schuss scored the go-ahead goal with his second of the game. Salmonbellie rookie and third star Luke Gillespie got the game winner, with his second goal on the night in the final minute on a harmless looking shot off a restart in play.
“It’s exciting. Every team has quality players and when someone’s missing (in the lineup) someone has to step up,” said Schuss. “It was time to get into it in the third. We’re a third-period team. It’s a testament to our conditioning. We like to close out the third.”
And close out they did, scoring five times on just 12 shots on Burnaby’s new goalie Tye Belanger.
Eric Penney scored his third win of the season in goal for New West, stopping 41 Laker shots, while putting up a 0.854 save percentage.
On Saturday, Coquitlam goalie Dan Lewis, who was traded by Burnaby to the Adanacs in the off season, stoned his former teammates with 48 saves and a blistering 0.941 save percentage to garner a game star.
Lewis blanked Burnaby in both the first and third periods to earn the Adanacs’ second WLA win after the team’s shaky start of the season.
Burnaby trailed throughout the contest despite outscoring their hosts 3-2 in the middle frame on goals by Dane Stevens, Scott Jones and Dhaliwal.
Ryan Johnson led the A’s with three goals.
Just six minutes in penalties were whistled down in the Saturday match.
The Lakers will host Maple Ridge at the Bill Copeland Sports Centre on Tuesday night. Game time is 7:45 p.m. Burnaby is back at it on Wednesday at the Langley Events Centre for a tilt with the Thunder, also at 7:45 p.m.
