Sunday Double Header

Submitted by League Reporter, Jen Mutas

Depending on what you believe in, Sundays are definitely a blessing. Some people go to church, but for those who follow lacrosse as a religion, the Sunday double headers are something to be thankful for.

Game 1: - Burnaby 8-15 Victoria
After edging Delta 19-17 on Saturday night Victoria had a brunch date with the Burnaby Lakers to round out their weekend road trip.

The Shamrocks carried over their offensive performance from the night previous, with Captain Matt Yager throwing the first goal of the game past Brodie Macdonald just a few minutes after the opening faceoff. Burnaby would answer back on a power play goal from Simon Fleet, and the two teams would play to a 3-3 tie going into the second.

Victoria had a few chances to take the lead in the last couple of minutes of the first but penalties would get in the way of developing a flow to their attack. Kory Kowalk made no mistake in the middle frame scoring two to go along with markers from Dylan Benard, Karsen Leung, and another from Yager. Riley Loewen and Josh Simons would manage to beat Victoria keeper Greg Krstic, but the five goals from the 'Rocks gave the visiting team the edge.

Just twelve seconds into the third it would be a showdown of the offensive stars with Leung scoring for the Shamrocks, and Loewen for the Lakers. Burnaby would manage two more goals in the final period, but Victoria finalized the score with two short handed goals from Sean Nugent and Yager.

Victoria is taking control of the BCJALL going 4-0 after this weekend with an impressive 58 goals for (34 coming this weekend alone). The great start is more impressive considering all games have been on the road. The 'Rocks will try to repeat their starting performance of last year going 5-0; keep your eye on their 'home' opener against Nanaimo (0-3) in Duncan on Saturday.

Game 2: - New West 14-9 Nanaimo
Nine days after Nanaimo got the 2009 season underway on the Island, the Salmonbellies finally got their start at home against the T-Men in game two of the Sunday double header.

Leif Mydske opened the scoring with his unassisted goal just 36 seconds into the period, and after some back and forth penalties for both teams it was the 'Bellies who would capitalize with the man advantage. Eric Lewthwaite rounded off a hat trick in the first period, and four of the seven goals scored by New West in the first frame were unassisted.

With a seven goal cushion the T-Men had to come out with some serious offense in the second and Colton Clark was the guy to get the ball rolling, scoring two PP goals and assisting on the third. Kyle Hofer and Jon Diplock would also score on the PP and Isaac Haack would score the only even strength goal for the T-Men in the middle frame with a beautiful finish on an equally beautiful feed from Doug Langlois. New West would score three goals from Lewthwaite, Tyler Digby, and Jordan Catton, but even with Nanaimo's efforts, the score would be in New West's favor by 10-5 after forty minutes.

The final frame would start with a scrap between Matt Wray for the T-Men and Travis Irving, both would land some good punches, and nothing much would get resolved. Langlois capitalized on a delayed penalty for Nanaimo, but Ryan Mackay would answer back for the 'Bellies on the PP. Kyle Hofer had two carbon copy power play goals for the T-Men, showing great patience and rifling it past Neil Tyack from the perimeter, but the first period success for the 'Bellies would be too much to overcome for Nanaimo.

New West opens the season on a high note with a predictable offensive onslaught. Nanaimo seems to be developing a bad habit of dropping first periods like it's going out of style, then consequently having to work like dogs for the final forty. In the past two games the T-Men have been outscored 12-1 in the first period, then turned it around to out score their opponents 15-11 in periods two and three. On a positive note for Nanaimo, Colton Clark is back in the lineup and had a hand in six of the nine goals tonight; and the trio of Clark, Diplock, and Hofer combined for 15 points.