Thursday, July 24, 2014 - Submitted by Patrick McMillan
Here we are lacrosse fans, the final stretch before the 2014 playoffs… well kind of. There’s still one week before everyone’s favorite part of the season. As the number of games before playoffs shrinks, expect teams to really start tightening all those loose screws and oiling up the machine in anticipation.
In Wednesday night’s match-up between the Maple Ridge Burrards and the Langley Thunder, both teams were certainly already in playoff mode as this game broke out to an immediate and intense pace with early double teams and offences shooting early and often. In net facing those quick shots for the Langley Thunder was the always reliable Brodie MacDonald who has had an incredible season to date. On the other side of the floor, young-gun Frankie Scigliano was in net for the Maple Ridge Burrards.
Although the Thunder offence didn’t necessarily get the same amount of touches as the Burrards’ offence, their defense was critical and physical on the Burrard shooters; constantly pushing out on the Langley ball carriers, always taking the body, and never showing any mercy. You can bet any money these guys spent some time post-game in an ice bath. But let’s get to the scoring. The Burrards broke out early with Riley Loewen running up the boards and, with a defender draped all over him, he leaned back and whipped one to the bottom corner. Jarrett Davis wasn’t far behind with a high shot of his own when he received a pass from the across the floor and, simply stepped into a booming shot from the point to give the Burrards a 2-0 lead. On the other end of the floor, it as clear early on that the Burrard defense and Scigliano were going to have themselves a big game turning away any and all chances the Thunder had. Garrett McIntosh followed up roughly six minutes later with a great breakaway goal after picking up a loose ball, wheeling down the floor, and firing it hip-high on MacDonald. Only a minute later, Loewen followed up for his second of the night with a quick shot over his shoulder to the top corner with his feet planted just above the dotted lines. The Burrards finished up the first period with an Aaron Davis breakaway goal after Patrick O’Meara picked up a loose ball to find a streaking Davis up the floor and cap the first period 5-0 for Maple Ridge.
The Burrards were rolling by the second period, scoring another three times in the second frame. But the real story was the Burrard defense who held the Langley offense scoreless for thirty-one minutes before the veteran Alex Turner broke the goose egg with an extra attacker goal after the lefty ran across the dotted lines and fired a shot to the top corner. Any momentum the Thunder had built from the Turner goal was short lived as O’Meara scored another breakaway marker with a perfectly placed shot just below MacDonald’s right hand. Six minutes later, Andrew Murphy picked up another loosie in the defensive zone, ran up the floor, and placed the ball in an almost identical spot as his teammate before him. The Langley Thunder finished off the second period scoring with Turner’s second of the night after taking a quick pass from call junior call up, Brendan Mykle-Winkler and burying it past Scigliano to make it 8-2 Maple Ridge.
This was a statement game for the Maple Ridge Burrards: they were crushing dreams in the first two periods, destroying all scoring chances for the Langley Thunder and playing almost a perfect game. They had depth in scoring and goaltending. After the Langley Thunder called goaltender Scigliano on illiegal equipment half-way through the first period, Jeremy Funk got the nod and was up to the task. The Burrards scored their ninth goal of the night at the hands of Loewen who completed his hatrick with a cut through the middle and a side-arm sling to the bottom corner. The Thunder would get another before the night was over. With just three seconds remaining, Mykle-Winkler whipped a pass across the floor to an open Daniel McQuade who simply had to dunk it past Funk for the Thunder’s third goal of the evening. The final score from the Langley Events Centre was 9-3 for the visiting Burrards.
