Big Opening Night in Burnaby

By Chris Clarke

Sunday night the Burnaby Lakers played host to the Poco Saints to open the season for both clubs. In spite of the Canucks home playoff game the Bill Copeland Arena had a good turnout of fans to welcome back the finest junior lacrosse in western Canada for the 2007 season. 

On the line for the Lakers, defending BCJALL champs, was a 29 game regular season winning streak. Both teams were missing a few of their better players but early on it seemed to affect the Saints a little less than the home squad. Jordan Flaman got the first goal of the season for Poco and assisted on the second as the visitors jumped to a 2-0 lead and looked strong in the opening period. 

But the home team must have borrowed some energy from the two little mini-mites wearing Laker jerseys and running around the floor at intermission as Burnaby looked like a different team over the final 40 minutes 

“We came out a little flat,” assistant coach Remo Spagnuolo said following the game, “once we got going we were fine, we never panicked.”

No they didn’t. Dane Dobbie scored early in the second stanza and the floodgates were opened. It was the beginning of a clinic that the Lakers put on for all the young fans in attendance. By the end of the second period Dobbie would have a hat trick and Shaun Dhaliwal would have a new souvenir as he scored his first goal in junior A.

On a night when scoring was fast and furious for the home team, new goalie Angus Goodleaf was definitely one of the stars of the game. Sporting the number 30 of last year’s top goalie Ron Schibild, Goodleaf was stellar following the first twenty minutes. Not having to make too many saves, but being there when needed, in the final 40 minutes he showed off his stick skills and ended up on the score sheet with two assists.

Alex Gajic and Jamie Lincoln also had hat tricks as twelve members of the Lakers finished the game with points. It was a strong opening game for the boys in white and green who did indeed extend their win streak to 30 games by a final margin of 13-2.

As Spagnuolo quickly, and diplomatically, stated both teams were without key players who have yet to return from school. By the end of May and into early June when most players have returned to fill rosters completely it should be a better indicator of how teams will stack up.