Delta Islanders Open Season with a Win Over Burnaby

The Delta Islanders opened their regular season with a dominating 15-4 home win over the Burnaby Lakers. 

It had been just 7 days since the Delta Islanders and Burnaby Lakers last did battle, in the first exhibition game of the 2013 season. It was a game that the Islanders won 20-10 at Ladner Arena. 

“The last time we played these guys [Burnaby] we had a pretty assorted roster with a lot of intermediate players line up and we played 3 goalies. Tonight I wanted us to find ourselves and get in a groove.” Said Coach Shaun Springett. 

The Islanders scored the first goal of the game at 1:41 on a Brandon Moroz goal, assisted by Jon Phillips and Evan Messenger.

Burnaby would take a 5 min boarding call at 1:52 in the first which lead to 2 Islander power play goals from Tyler Nett and Cody Nass. Delta would score 3 more times in the period from Mike Henry, Eli McLaughlin and another from Tyler Nett. Burnaby would not score until 16:39 on a Trenton Matsuzaki Power Play Goal.

The Islanders would continue their air raid in the 2nd, bombing 5 goals past Laker goalie Jack Woodhouse. Burnaby would score just twice in the period on a goal from Michael Bertoia at 52 seconds and a power play goal from Alex Millin at 7:07.

The objective of finding a groove was certainly accomplished by the Islanders, as they would dominate the rest of the game with 4 more goals in the 3rd. The Lakers would make a goaltender switch in the final frame, inserting Douglas Owen. Burnaby would score just one goal in the period. 

Matt Keith had a great game in net for the Islanders, making 23 saves on the night, and picking up his first win in Junior A. Keith was called up from the Intermediate Islanders squad this season.

“Keith is a solid good goalie, he stops the outside shots, and takes away the inside stuff, and that’s exactly what I want out of our goalies.” Said Islander coach Shaun Springett.

Cody Nass lead all Islanders in goal scoring with his 5-goal performance. “I knew we had a strong game against Burnaby in the exhibition, and we wanted to come out hard tonight and get the lead right away, and prove to the league that we are a good team this year.” Nass commented. 

Brandon Moroz, Mike Henry, and Eli McLaughlin all had 2 goals for the Islanders, and Evan Messenger had one on the night. Mike Henry led in the assist category with 4. 

The Islanders will head out on the road to Vancouver Island to take on the Nanaimo Timbermen, next Saturday, may 4th. Nanaimo lost 12-9 to the Coquitlam Adanacs on Saturday, April 27. 

- Merrick Parnell