Langley Thunder came up just short on Thursday night.
After falling behind 5-0 in the opening nine minutes to the visiting Burnaby Lakers, the Thunder battled back to twice get within a goal, ultimately falling 13-12 in BC Junior A Lacrosse League action at Langley Events Centre.
And while it will go down as another loss, there were some positives the team can take from their most recent defeat.
The 12 goals was double their season average (they entered the game scoring 6.1 goals per game) and it also marked the first time they surpassed seven goals in a game.
But in the end, the first-period hole was too much to overcome as they sit at 0-14. Burnaby – which is in the thick of playoff contention – improved to 8-6-1 and 17 points.
“A slow start, which comes with seasons like this, but when we started to gel as a team, all of a sudden the offence starts moving the ball, and we start executing on some systems and make a good game of it,” said Langley coach Adam Smith.
The Lakers led 6-2 after 20 minutes and 10-7 through two periods before twice in the final frame, Langley managed to get within a goal, the last of those times coming with 3:56 to play. But despite several great chances, the Thunder were thwarted in their comeback bid.
Austin Vanichuk led the Langley offence with a hat trick and six points while Bailey Vanichuk and Cody Malawsky each scored twice and set up one goal. Ethan Quinn, Ben Gagnon, Brayden Bushnoe and Nathan Roseborsky had a goal and a helper each with Nathaniel Leroux chipping in with one goal.
Deklan Morrison took over the net in the first period and finished with 33 saves on 41 shots. Burnaby was led by five goals and seven points from Ethan M’Lot four-point games from Oskar Lucas (3-1) and Dagan Carlson (1-3). Brayden Wandler stopped 36 of 48 shots in his first game against his former Langley teammates.
“It is easy for us to go into these games with our heads down, but we have to see that we can compete with the top-level teams,” Smith said.
The Thunder Junior A are back in action on Friday, June 28 with a visit to Coquitlam to face the Adanacs with the team’s next home game at Langley Events Centre on July 4 at 7 p.m. versus the Delta Islanders.
The Langley Thunder lacrosse organization consists of Senior A, Junior A and Junior Tier 1 teams who play in the Western Lacrosse Association, BC Junior A Lacrosse League and BC Junior Tier 1 Lacrosse League respectively. All three teams play their home games at Langley Events Centre.
