Deja Vu

Submitted by League Reporter, Jen Mutas

It had been two and a half weeks since Coquitlam took the floor in a regular season game, when they paid a visit to Bill Copeland arena to take on the Lakers in just their third game of the season on May 2nd. Barring some minor finishing touches the new Poirer Arena was ready to go for the Adanacs first home game of the season on the 19th; a game where the Lakers were looking for revenge as Coquitlam kept them scoreless for over two periods in the last matchup, in what turned out to be a battle of defensive ability and goaltending.

Aside from a few slight variations, Wednesday’s game was almost carbon-copy to the one played on May 2nd. Both teams came out cautiously against one another, but this time the Lakers would be ahead by one goal after the opening twenty minutes as Kyle Kari got the jump for the visitors scoring two goals and was followed closely by one from Fraser Sanderson. Taking advantage of a Burnaby slashing call Mike Krgovich would score from his usual hangout to the right of the goalie, as he quick-sticked the ball past Brodie MacDonald to get the home team on the board. Intermediate call up Wesley Berg would put the ball in the net with just 2.4 seconds left in the opening period, as the Adanacs executed a set play after a timeout.

There was a feeling of uncertainty in the building to start the second period as it was Burnaby’s chance to protect and build on their one goal lead, and Coquitlam’s opportunity to jump out of the gate and establish some control. Almost fifteen minutes would elapse before anyone would score, and once the Adanacs found the net they didn’t stop for the final five minutes. Garrett McIntosh would tie the game up at three, followed by Berg a couple of minutes later, and Travis Cornwall would provide the cushion as the A’s finished strong and went into the final period up by two goals.

The third period would start much the same as the second, with both teams playing extremely tight defensive ball; and again it was Coquitlam who would be the only ones on the scoreboard, as both their third period goals came on the power play, with Berg completing a hat trick. It wasn’t a lack of chances in the last two periods but Burnaby for one reason or another just couldn’t muster up what they needed to beat not only the Adanac defense, but their goalie Dan Lewis as well, who turned away twenty-one Laker shots in the last forty minutes. Final score of the Adanac home opener was 7-3, in a game that was eerily similar to the one just a couple of weeks earlier. In the May 2nd game both Brandon Bertoia and Travis Cornwall had three points, tonight they both had four; May 2nd Chris Seidel stopped eleven Laker shots in the second and ten in the third, tonight Lewis would stop the exact same amounts in both the second and third. On May 2nd MacDonald made sixteen saves with five goals against in the first period for the Lakers, tonight he also made sixteen saves but only let two goals past him in the first.

A positive angle for the Lakers in this game was their impressive defensive play against a team like the Adanacs who can usually find the back of the net with ease; the problem with tonight, was that Coquitlam’s defense was playing just as good- and then some. The third game of this series between these two teams should be an interesting one, so make sure to mark down Bill Copeland Arena, Sunday June 27th on your calendars.