BC Junior A Lacrosse League

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O.T. Costly to Lakers

May 7, 2009

The game tonight between the Langley Thunder and the Burnaby Lakers was a special teams extravaganza; five short handed goals between the two squads, five of seven Laker goals were short handed or on the power play, and six of the ten goals Langley scored were on special teams as well. A full sixty minutes would solve nothing as these teams played to a tie, but the extra ten minutes was enough to get the Thunder their first regular season win since June 6th, 2008. Through and through it was a chippy game with a lot of aggression on the floor. The first penalty of the game (too many men against Burnaby) would result in a power play goal by Brandon Bull for Langley, and a short handed goal from Jaxson Lee for the Lakers. Two more goals from each side would end the first in a 3-3 tie with Burnaby almost doubling the shots of Langley 9-17.
Intermediate call up Brandon Bull* puts one past Laker tender Brodie MacDonald on his way to a hat trick in his first Junior 'A' game.*		Jaxson Lee of Burnaby snaps one over Sean Messenger of Langley. Lee scored two goals and added an assist in the second period.

The second period would also be a tight scoring twenty minutes, with Chase Clark scoring the two goals for the Lakers, and Bull getting his second of the night for Langley to go with Scott Davidson and Colton Porters markers. Late in the frame there was bad penalties taken from both teams, but no one could find the momentum needed to run away with scoring. With a one goal lead in the third Langley would jump out with another short handed goal from Mitch Dibblee who extended well to take the pass and then quick sticked it past Andrew Copeland, but that would be all the offense the Thunder could generate in the final period. After losing Riley Loewen to a hard check from behind, the Lakers managed to push through and score both on the power play and short handed to tie the game at seven.

Nick Benevoli of the Lakers gets stuffed on the behind the back shot by Thunder goalie Graham Chandler who faced a season high 58 shots.		Laker Riley Loewen* fights off Thunder defender Jarret Zavits as he scores the second Burnaby goal on the night*

The ten minute overtime period would swing in Langley's favor even though they hadn't scored a goal in almost twenty minutes of play. Colton Hayes had a lead pass he buried past Copeland for the game winning goal, and that seemed to give the Thunder the push they needed to solidify the victory. Intermediate call ups Reegan Comeault (1st overall pick at the 2009 Midget Draft) and Brandon Bull would score the two insurance goals to end the game with a 10-7 win for Langley. Bull earned his spot in the lineup tonight for Langley scoring a hat trick and assisting on Comeault's goal, and Reegan had three helpers to give him to a four point night for the Thunder. To round out the game Scott Davidson of Langley and Nick Bilic of Burnaby would have a scrap, and once the refs realized they couldn't break it up in time, it turned into one of the best fights I've seen so far this year. The two traded good blows in the first couple of swings, but once they got against the boards it was Bilic who would land two big ones to send Davidson to the dressing room with what looked like a split lip. It was a big night for Langley's Intermediates, Sean Lundstrom was the third INT in the lineup and while he didn't have a point on the score sheet his presence was noticed on the floor in many of the match ups to go along with Comeault and Bulls offensive talents. Burnaby peppered Langley keeper Graham Chandler with 58 shots altogether and the Lakers out shot the Thunder in all periods except OT. Would the Thunder have liked the win in regulation time? Most likely, but a win is a win.