In the Western Lacrosse Association, the Langley Thunder and the Coquitlam Adanacs have been on a collision course virtually all season long. The dream series for BC lacrosse fans started on Sunday night in Langley as the defending WLA champions hosted the surging Adanacs. While the Thunder swept their opening round series against Burnaby, Coquitlam needed two extra games, and saw two others go to overtime, before making their way to the WLA finals. But here they are for the right to be called the Best in the West and travel to Ontario for the Mann Cup.
All the talk coming into the season was the play of Nick Rose. The Coquitlam goaltender led the team all year and was recently named the WLA season MVP. As is often the case, when a rival goaltender looks down the floor and sees a competitor, they want to do everything they can to steal their thunder. This is where we talk about Brodie MacDonald. Both goaltenders went save for save in the first period but Garrett Billings of Langley and Jason Jones of Coquitlam would each pot a goal sending the teams off the floor tied after twenty. The Thunder managed two more shots on goal, but the teams still combined for thirty-six shots in the period, further showcasing how good the goaltenders actually were.
Rose would be forced to make seventeen saves in the second period, but over the first half of the period three others beat him thanks to Athan Iannucci, Brett Hickey and Billings second. Steve McKinley would get one back for the Adanacs before time expired, but the visiting team still found themselves down 4-2 after two.
Coquitlam had to come out strong, especially given the strong performance of MacDonald, but it was Langley’s Joel McCready who scored in the opening period. Darryl Veltman answered with Coquitlam’s third of the game, but McCready’s second, and a late goal from Rob Van Beek in the final minute sealed the game.
Nick Rose faces fifty-nine shots on the night and saved fifty-two, but it was still not enough for the win. MacDonald, however, needed just thirty-four saves on thirty-seven shots for the victory. Billings led all runners with four points (two goals, two assists). The trio of Lewis Ratcliff, Iannucci and Billings accounted for thirty-five of Langley’s fifty-two shots – two less than all of Coquitlam combined.
The teams have a day off before travelling to Coquitlam for game two of the series. All games in the final series will be webcast on a pay-per-view basis. To order and watch, visit www.theboxrocks.com and click the webcast link. Â
