Thursday, August 7, 2014 - Submitted by Andrew McMillan
In a game that saw the absence of a couple key performers in Curtis Dickson for the Burrards and Ilija Gajic for the Lakers, it was the goaltenders on both sides of the Laker logo at centre floor who were the stand out players of the game. The final score may not have given much indication to that on the Burrard end, but both goaltenders were certainly shining on Wednesday night.
On top of being without their superstar forward in Dickson, the Burrards are also without their head coach in Chris Gill. With all three regular season games between the Lakers and Burrards being very tightly contested (one game even resulted in overtime,) the Burrards were going to need all the help they could get.
Without further ado, here is how Wednesday night’s first round matchup between the 11-7-0 Burnaby Lakers and the 9-8-1 Maple Ridge Burrards played out.
With only four goals during the regular season, Jackson Decker broke the seal for the Lakers by knocking down Riley Loewen, chasing down the loose ball then scoring while falling down on a breakaway to give the Lakers a 1-0 lead 2:08 into the first period. Just under two minutes later, Jarrett Davis answered on the power play after the Burrards showed some great rebound control getting three solid chances before Davis converted from the point to tie the game up at one. Robert Church would get started for the night as he set a pick down low on Tyler Digby, who threw the ball out to Dane Stevens who then got it to a streaking Church who had time to fake twice then score for his first of four on the night. A Burnaby power play would set up Church for another goal, this time from the point and low on Burrards rookie goaltender Frankie Scigliano. Following the trend of consecutive Laker goals, Stevens got the ball while running across the dotted lines and fired one hip high on Scigliano to get the Lakers a three-goal lead and to close out the first period with a score of 4-1. Shots on goal after twenty minutes were 14-9 in the Burrards’ favour.
The Lakers would start the second period much the same as they did the first, with not only a goal but a pretty one at that: a textbook pick and roll from Casey Jackson to Stevens extended the Lakers lead to four goals. A veteran move from the rugged Maple Ridge defender Aaron Davis would end the Lakers’ four-goal run immediately following the faceoff. With their second goal of the game behind them, the Burrards were looking to gain some momentum, but that was quickly squashed as, following a beauty save by Burnaby goalie Tyler Richards, Pete McFeteridge picked up the loose ball, squeaked by his defender, and whipped a pass down to an open Chris O'Dougherty who was cutting toward the net. O-Dougherty scored top corner over the shoulder of Scigliano. The Burrards answered with a goal of their own, this time on the power play: after some pretty passing, Ben McIntosh was on the receiving end of a quick pass to the inside where he converted with a one-timer so quick it gave Richards no chance to respond. Penalty trouble is not something the Burrards wanted to run into this series, especially when facing this season top power play in the Lakers. A tripping penalty to Burrard Travis Irving would lead to another Laker power play and another Laker power play goal. In a game where Church was converting from everywhere, allowing him to step into an outside shot uncontested was the wrong thing to do if the Burrards wanted gain any momentum heading into the third period. Laker Digby and Burrard Jarrett Davis, would score again before the break and Burnaby would go to the locker room with an 8-4 at second intermission.
From 40 minutes of great saves and back and forth goals, the third period was, in a word, slow. Just over a minute into the third period, Digby dished the ball down low to Church who stepped beside his defenseman and fired a goal low on the Burrard goalie. Where the other periods had been filled with scoring, the start of the third period was, instead, filled with some rough stuff. After Dane Stevens butt-ended Burrard defender Travis Irving, Irving reacted by pushing Stevens to the ground resulting in both players getting game misconducts. As the players were being sent to the box, Casey Jackson and Colton Porter started pushing and shoving which resulted in Jackson dropping Porter to the ground with a slam move and both players receiving majors and game misconducts for "fighting". It became clear that the referees were trying to keep the game calm and under control, and that they did. The game ran relatively smoothly for the reminder of the period. With just under two minutes left in the period, veteran Laker Shaun Dhaliwal slipped by a few different defensemen then streaked toward the net to score one low. Down six goals with under 30 seconds to go, the Burrards attempted to claw back by pulling goalie for an extra attacker. With one second left in the game, Mike Mallory succeeded, scoring from well outside to reduce loss to five goals.
The Lakers won game one at home in Bill Copeland Arena with a final score of 10- 5. Shots on goal through 60 minutes were 39 for Maple Ridge and 34 for the Lakers.
