Fish Out of Water

Submitted by League Reporter, Jen Mutas

With the season series between Burnaby and New West tied at one a piece, Tuesday night's game at Queens Park would be the final time these two teams would face each other, and thus be the deciding factor on who gets bragging rights. New West hadn't hit the floor since last Tuesday when they tied with Poco, and Burnaby was coming off a two goal loss to the first place Adanacs on Sunday night.

New West started strong after forcing the Lakers to turn the ball over and on their first drive to the net Curtis Dickson would beat 6'7 Laker goalie Brodie MacDonald by shooting low on his large frame. After two quick goals from Riley Loewen and Jackson Decker the Lakers would have ample opportunity on the power play as New West started to get into penalty trouble. With just under two minutes left in the first, new Laker Mitch Dibblee drove to the net on the man advantage and got big time sandwiched by at least two New West players; even while being hit and taken down hard Dibblee got a shot off just in time and still managed to beat Tyacke, giving Burnaby a one goal lead heading into the first break.

The Lakers would continue to work well together in the second, getting goals from Blake Mattinson and Shaun Dhaliwal, and repeat goals from Loewen and Decker. New West had a tough time getting a flow going to their game and couldn't seem to generate some offense in the Burnaby zone.

It would take the 'Bellies almost twenty five minutes to get on the scoresheet again and no surprise it was Curtis Dickson who would get the job done not once, but three times in the third. Dickson's four point night would leave him with 19 goals and 30 points in just eight games so far this season. One more goal from Loewen with forty five seconds left in the game would make the final score 8-5 for the visiting Lakers, and move them one point past Delta, good for fourth place in the BCJALL.

Tuesday night's game was the first time in a long time I saw Burnaby gel as a team and work well in all areas of their game; they played with a sense of purpose and wanted to win for the full sixty minutes. A huge part of the Lakers win was the play of their sixth man on the floor, goalie Brodie MacDonald who stood on his head all night. MacDonald played exceptionally well and finally was using his size to his advantage, rather than relying on it. Even with New West shooting low, he still managed to be quick on his reactions, and moved very well from side to side in his net. New West unfortunately couldn't create any flow to their game due to a combination of the Laker defense, and some miscommunication on the floor between players. The 'Bellies outshot Burnaby and hit lots of posts in the game, but just couldn't catch a break- especially in the second period.