There were three games on the WLA schedule this weekend. The first game was Friday night as the Burnaby Lakers faced off with the Victoria Shamrocks. The other two games were on Saturday night as the Nanaimo Timbermen took on the Coquitlam Adanacs and the biggest game of the weekend was the Langley Thunder VS. the Victoria Shamrocks in a battle for first place.
On Friday the Burnaby Lakers took on the Victoria Shamrocks this was the third meeting between these two teams this season. The two teams split the first two games with each team gaining a win. Victoria drew first blood in the game on a goal by Corey Small just 47 seconds into the game. Burnaby would then take the lead by scoring two consecutive goals. The score was 2-1 in favor of Burnaby. Victoria was able to tie the game just two minutes after Burnaby took the lead as Matt Yager scored a shorthanded goal to tie the game 2-2. Burnaby then took control once again as Carlton Schuss scored a pair of goals and Dane Stevens added a goal to make the score 5-2. Victoria would cut Burnaby’s lead to just 1 by the end of the period as they scored two goals to close out the period. The score was 5-4 after the first period. In the second period Burnaby scored 4 consecutive goals to extend their lead to 9-4. Victoria though would take control of the game from there as they scored two goals to end the period and make the score 9-6 and then continued their onslaught in the third period as Victoria scored 5 unanswered goals and took the lead 11-6. Burnaby was unable to score in the third period and Victoria walked away with the win 11-6. With the win Victoria moved to 7-2 on the season and into a tie with Langley for first place making their matchup on Saturday a battle for first. Burnaby fell to 5-5-2 on the season and remained in third place.
Burnaby’s two biggest problems in this game which contributed to their loss was the fact their team got outplayed in the third period by Victoria and that Burnaby’s team scoring leader Scott Jones did not register a single point. The bright spots for Burnaby were Dan Lewis in net as he returned from injury and showed he was good as new as he stopped 36 of 46 shots on net. Carlton Schuss also shined for Burnaby as he scored 3 goals and was named second star of the game. Burnaby’s next game is on Friday July 6th against the New Westminster Salmonbellies.
Victoria won this game due to their discipline on defense and their great offense. Victoria showed why they are a great team as they overcame a 5 goal differential in order to win this game and did so by adjusting on defense and shutting out Burnaby in the third period and finding a way to spark their offense in the third period. Ryan Benesch and Jeff Shattler were the sparks for Victoria’s offense as Benesch had 3 goals and 2 assists which earned him first star of the game while Shattler earned third star honors for his 2 goal and 1 assist performance. This was an important win for Victoria as they head into their match up with Langley on Saturday.
The Second game on the schedule in the WLA this weekend was between the Coquitlam Adanacs and the Nanaimo Timbermen. Coquitlam showed their offensive strength early as they scored 5 goals and took a 5-1 lead over Nanaimo and chased Nanaimo goalie Zach Boychuk from the game. Matt King would come into the game for Nanaimo. Nanaimo was able to cut the lead to just 2 by the end of the first period and made the score 5-3 heading into the second period. In the second period Nanaimo took control as they scored 5 consecutive goals to open the period. The score was now 8-5. Coquitlam was able to score and make the score 8-6. Nanaimo though would keep control as they scored 2 more goals to increase their lead to 9-6. Coquitlam would end the period by adding another goal to make the score 9-7 at the end of two periods. Nanaimo though kept the pressure up as they scored to open the third period Coquitlam managed to keep pace and scored to make the score 10-8. Nanaimo though scored two consecutive goals to seal their victory as they made the score 12-8. Coquitlam would score one more goal but it was as close as they got as they lost 12-9 to Nanaimo. Nanaimo improves to 5-3-1 and move into fourth place while Coquitlam fall to 5-6 and into fifth place.
Coquitlam lost this game due to them focusing too much on offense and not using their greatest weapon which is their strong defense. Coquitlam also struggled due to their inability to score on the power play as they went 0-4 on the man advantage and were undisciplined as they gave Nanaimo 10 power play opportunities and allowed Nanaimo to score 5 power play goals. Coquitlam received another strong performance from Nick Rose who stopped 36 of 49 shots while Dane Dobbie scored 2 goals and 1 assist. Coquitlam will next be in action on July 7th against the Victoria Shamrocks.
Nanaimo played an excellent game and owe their win to the performance of Matt King who stopped 23 of 27 shots and held off Coquitlam’s offense. King’s performance earned him first star of the game honors. Scott Ranger powered the Nanaimo offense scoring 4 goals and 1 assist to earn second star of the game. Cory Conway showed off his playmaking skills for Nanaimo as he had 5 assists and was named third star of the game. Nanaimo will next be in action on Saturday July 7 against the Langley Thunder.
In what would have to be considered the main event of the weekend the Victoria Shamrocks took on the Langley Thunder in a battle for first place. Victoria opened the scoring just 22 seconds into the game as Mitch McLaren scored to give the Shamrocks a quick 1-0 lead. The Shamrocks would extend their lead on a goal by Ryan Benesch. Langley though responded with two goals of their own from Athan Iannucci and Kerry Susheski to tie the game 2-2. The first period ended with the score tied. In the second period Shayne Jackson scored to give Langley the lead 3-2. Victoria would add two goals to take the lead as Derek Lowe scored on the power play and Kory Kowalyk added an event strength goal to make the score 4-3. Langley scored with just 58 seconds left in the period to tie the game at 4-4. In the third period Langley scored 2 goals to take the lead 6-4. Victoria though kept pace and scored two goals of their own to make the score 6-6. Langley though had the final blow as they scored 3 goals to take the lead and the victory. Langley won the game 9-6. With the win Langley gains sole possession of first place.
This game showed how evenly matched these two teams are and gave a preview of what could be the matchup in the WLA final. This matchup came down to which team wanted it most and in the end Langley found a way to win. Both goalies were great as Matt Flindell for Victoria stopped 29 of 38 shots while Brodie MacDonald stopped 29 of 35 shots. The three stars of the game were Kerry Susheki for Langley who earned first star honors for 2 goal and 1 assist effort. Victoria’s Derek Lowe who was recently acquired from Maple Ridge earned the second star for his 2 goal and 4 assist performance. The final star was Ian Poole who gained the third star for his performance in the faceoff circle as he won 9 out of 17 faceoffs and added an assist. Victoria will next be in action July 7th against the Coquitlam Adanacs. Langley will next be in action July 7 against the Nanaimo Timbermen.
