Season Opener a Good Preview

The first game of the regular season went underway Wednesday night in Burnaby between the Lakers- who finished first in the '07 regular season, and South Fraser- who occupied the basement last year.

If these were the same two teams from last year, this would have been an easy game to predict; but with all the graduates from the Lakers, and the players South Fraser have brought in, these teams were almost brand new.

Both teams were coming off losses from Sunday at the Ball Breaker tournament- the Stickmen falling to Poco 7-2, and the Lakers to the Adanacs 5-1. After Sunday's performances from both clubs I was expecting a chippy, low scoring game. I'm happy to report- I was pleasantly surprised.

Brandon Smith got the season opening start for the Lakers, and Mike Lowe for the Stickmen.

South Fraser came out of the gate looking very focused and comfortable with their new system. Possession and passing were an issue from the tournament on the weekend, but after Wednesday it looked to be a thing of the past. 

Greg Mahony, Darryl Stickler, and Jordan Lypchuck had their first goals as Stickmen, which put South Fraser ahead 3-0 in the first eight minutes of the first.

Then Alex Gajic went to work and managed to throw in three goals of his own before the period ended. Sean Messenger had an unassisted goal and with four seconds to go in the first, Jordy Willing put in another marker for the Stickmen, to give South Fraser a 5-3 lead to head into the second. The last time the Stickmen had a lead to go into a period? June 10th, 2007.

The Stickmen struggled with possession and loose balls in the middle frame, which made it easy for Burnaby to slip ahead.

Matt Miyashita caught the Stickmen off guard when he crashed the net with Chris Macey for a nice two-on-one goal for Burnaby; and Gajic put another marker past Lowe to tie the game at five.

South Fraser answered back with a power play goal, Scott Davidson scoring his first for the Stickmen since crossing the water from Victoria. But while the goal was still being announced, Shaun Dhaliwal got a great feed from Joe Vetere to tie it up again.

A couple of minutes later Alex Gajic scored his second of the middle frame, and his fifth of the game to give the Lakers their first lead of the evening. Milerad Kos, Chris Macey, Cam Appels and Joe Vetere all scored in the last seven minutes to put the Lakers up by five goals.

The most impressive goal of the evening came in the last couple of minutes of the second. Travis Voisey lost his shoe in his own end, carried the ball up the left side and rushed the net for an unassisted, one-shoed goal- very impressive!

The Stickmen had the first period, the second belonged to the Lakers, and the third would be the deciding factor to the game. Both teams were noticeably sluggish in the final frame, and both teams made a goalie switch; Tom Wray in for Smith, and Graham Chandler in for Lowe.

Not more than a minute in, Joe Vetere added to his point total with a goal giving him two goals and three helpers on the night. Jordan Innes was the lone goal scorer for the Stickmen in the third, sneaking the ball past Wray with fifteen minutes left in the game.

Alex Gajic had one more goal for good measure giving him a seven point night (six goals and one assist); his performance being a huge factor in the 13-8 Laker win.

Final shots in the game were 56 for the home squad, and 24 for the visiting Stickmen.

Both teams had a good showing for the first game of the season. Burnaby did well to show that even after losing so many players, they can still give an impressive offensive performance on the floor. South Fraser was trying out a new system and it worked well for them. They controlled their possession and were confident in the plays they ran.

The game had a fast pace with lots of action on both ends, definitely a great game to watch from the stands.

Next game for the Lakers is April 27th at home to Coquitlam 7PM; and South Fraser also plays at home this Sunday, when they host the Shamrocks 1:30PM.