Monday, August 11, 2014 - Submitted by Patrick McMillan
With the series tied at one game apiece, both the Maple Ridge Burrards and the Burnaby Lakers were already showing the effort needed to take it all the way. Each team’s core of veteran leaders and skilled defensemen were making life on the floor extremely difficult on both teams’ offenses.
Starting in net for the Maple Ridge Burrards was rookie Frankie Scigliano who has played huge in net all series. On the other end, Tyler Richards who has immense experience in playoff situations throughout his WLA career started in goal for the Burnaby Lakers. This was his first game back after serving a one-game suspension for a headshot in game one.
After a game two that included 277 penalty minutes, both teams came out the gate a little hesitant in game three. Players on both sides were missing passes they’d usually catch and opportunities where they’d usually score. Three minutes in, the jitters seemed to disappear as Patrick O’Meara of the Maple Ridge Burrards gave both teams the jolt they needed as the big man broke down the floor following an uncontested loose ball, picked it up and fired it home to give the Burrards a 1-0 lead. The next goal came from the speedster Colton Polter who scored an almost identical goal. Porter picked up a loose ball and scrambled pass the Laker defense before bouncing one past Richards. The Lakers weren’t going to back down that quickly as Tyler Digby finally got Burnaby on the scoreboard. After a nifty pick and roll with Scott Jones, Digby slid past his defender to open space, took a pass and corkscrewed the ball past Scigliano. The Lakers offense kept the pressure on as they swung the ball around the dotted lines before finding Shaun Dhaliwal who fired a pass from the top of the arc to Casey Jackson who was sneaking along the crease. Jackson picked up the rebound and dumped it past Scigliano. The Burrards answered back only a minute later when Ben McIntosh took a pass on the sideboards before muscling his big frame to the crease where he reached over Richards to give the Burrards the 3-2 lead. Burnaby tied it up again after Dane Stevens snuck up the floor past the Burrards’ defense before taking a long-bomb pass from Justin Salt and whipping one into the back of the net. In the final two minutes, the Burrards solidified their lead with a nifty cut down the middle of the floor from Spencer Evans who blasted one to the top corner of the net while on the run. Riley Loewen followed up with less than 30 seconds left in the period. With a full head of steam, he pushed his way to the front of the net before whipping one over his shoulder to the top corner to make it 5-3 Burrards at the end of the first.
The Burrards blasted through the first intermission into the second period in overdrive and it only took seven seconds for them to get their sixth goal of the night. After Maple Ridge won the face-off, McIntosh picked up the loose ball and without a second thought whipped a pass to Evans who sprinted to the crease before placing the ball to the top right corner of the goal. With both teams firing on all cylinders and showing no signs of slowing up, it was all about the Burnaby Lakers capitalizing on their opportunities and the Maple Ridge Burrards playing smart to keep this game out of reach. The Lakers capitalized on the only power play of the period after some slick movement around the dotted lines found Jackson wide open and able to whip a side-arm howitzer to the bottom corner to bring the Lakers’ deficit back to two goals. The Lakers were rolling as Stevens followed up with a fantastic individual effort, busting past one defender and, as the double team came, he rolled off a check before scoring to the bottom corner. Dhaliwal tied the game as he was left alone in front of the Burrards’ goaltender after a scrambled play before taking a high pass from Jackson and all in one motion letting it rip low on Frankie Scigliano to make it 6-6. The Burrards finished the period on a high note and took the lead thanks to Mike Mallory who cut to the top of half-circle, planted his feet and wired the ball to the bottom corner. After 40 minutes, the score was 7-6 in favour of Maple Ridge.
Scoring quickly again, the Burrards regained their two-goal lead thanks to Mitch Banister. The veteran defender broke down the floor with O’Meara who drew a defender to him before whipping a pass to Banister who one-timed the ball as quickly as possible. Veteran Aaron Davis finished the game with an unassisted empty net goal to give the Maple Ridge Burrards a 9-6 victory to step ahead with a 2-1 series lead.
