Timbermen Squeak Out Win

The Nanaimo Timbermen visited the Burnaby Lakers on Sunday evening looking to extend their winning streak to 2. 

The first period was certainly an exciting period, especially if you were cheering for the Timbermen.

The Lakers and Timbermen wasted no time in setting a tone for this game. Lakers' Franco Caporale and Timbermen's Cody Short both received two minutes for roughing at 3:29. 

With the Timbermen receiving a penalty for too many men at 5:26, the Lakers took only 40 seconds into the powerplay to get on the board when Scott Petursson scored at 6:06.

With Lakers' Corey Wong in the box for holding, the Lakers penalty kill unit went to work. Tyler Buchan forced the Timbermen to chase him around in the Timbermen zone and Buchan even got Timbermen goalie Peter Dubenski to come out of his net to make a play, but then when Buchan turned around, he saw an open Aidan Milburn who then put it in the back of the net to give the Lakers a 2-0 lead. 

The Timbermen couldn't let the power play come up empty handed, so Mitch Parker scored at 9:06 and it definitely got the rest of the team pumped up.

With Timbermen's Owen Barker in the box for holding, that didn't stop Dane Sorensen from scoring at 11:58 to tie the game up 2-2. Just over three minutes later, Parker decided to take the game over by scoring two goals in under two minutes, with his second goal being a beauty dive across the crease to give the Timbermen a 4-2 lead. 

The Timbermen didn't stop there. Brett Hawrys capitalized when Lakers' goalie David Mather was out of position as he made it 5-2 at 17:51 and then Short followed up at 18:45 to make it 6-2. 

The Lakers finally added a goal when Buchan made a great play in the Timbermen zone and just like earlier, he found an open Milburn who shot five hole to make it a 6-3 game. Unfortunately for the Lakers, the Timbermen got a late goal from Parker with six seconds left in the period to make it 7-3 Timbermen at the end of the first period. 

If you thought you've seen a completely one-sided period before, think again. 

It only took ten seconds for the flood gates to open. Timbermen's Brett Fleming opened up the period with a five-minute boarding penalty where Quinton Bradley and Milburn each scored on the power play to cut the Timbermen's lead to two. 

At 5:50, DJ Saari of the Timbermen received two minutes for high sticking and the Lakers capitalized on their chances when Tyler Vogrig scored at 6:42 to make it a one goal game. 

You would think the Timbermen would start to play it safe after giving up three power play goals, but that wasn't the case. Parker received five minutes for high sticking and the Lakers were able to net two more goals, one by Caporale and one by Vogrig, which was his second of the game to give the Lakers an 8-7 lead. 

Timbermen's Saari received another penalty at 14:51 where he got four minutes for checking from behind, but with a good penalty kill by the Timbermen and the Lakers not able to generate chances, the game was still 8-7 Lakers. 

The Timbermen were finally able to get some calls in their favour at the end of the period. Lakers' Cam Hudspeth received four minutes for checking from behind followed by a five-minute penalty for checking from behind and a game misconduct for Nick Kapusty. The Timbermen can easily change the momentum of the game with some early goals in the third period.

If the second period saw some questionable penalties, the third period saw a lot worse and it completely ruined any flow to the game. 

The Timbermen were unable to take advantage of the 5-on-3 early on as they couldn’t bury their chances and possibly out of frustration, Keony Magnan got a two-minute penalty for high sticking at 2:21.

Timbermen goalie Dubenski made some huge saves early on in the period, stopping a breakaway and a 2-on-0 to keep it a one goal game, but on a delayed penalty call, Vogrig scored at 6:18 to give the Lakers a two-goal lead.

Just under two minutes later, Timbermen’s Barker scored to cut the Lakers lead back to 1 and then a plethora of penalties ensued. Though, the referees would always call a player from each team, so it didn’t end up in any power plays.

At 14:25, Lakers’ Bradley Breadon received two minutes for interference and the Hawrys scored on the power play to tie the game up with under six minutes to go. 

As the game has been played all evening, it was to no surprise that another penalty would be called and would probably be the difference maker in a tie game. With under three minutes to go, Lakers’ Bailey received two minutes for high sticking and 25 seconds later, Travis Mickelson picked up a rebound and scored to give the Timbermen a 10-9 lead. 

The Lakers called a timeout with 1:01 remaining, but they couldn’t bury their chances as the Timbermen squeak out a frustrating game, 10-9. 

Three stars of the game
1. Nanaimo - Mitch Parker, 4 goals
2. Burnaby - Aidan Milburn, 3 goals, 2 assists
3. Burnaby - Tyler Buchan, 1 goal, 3 assists

The Lakers have a tough test on Tuesday night when they take on the New Westminster Salmonbellies at Queens Park at 8:00PM, while the Nanaimo Timbermen host the Victoria Shamrocks on Wednesday night.