A lacklustre second period was costly for the Langley Junior B Thunder as they were outscored 5-1 in the middle stanza and that turned out to be the difference in an 8-4 defeat.
The Thunder hosted the Delta Islanders in BC Junior B Tier 1 Lacrosse League action on Tuesday night at Langley Events Centre and the victory moves Delta two points ahead of Langley in the standings.
Delta improved to 7-7 and sixth place while the Thunder fell to 6-8 and now sit seventh. Four games remain in the regular season and the top eight make the playoffs
“We just didn’t show up (in that second period),” summed up Langley coach Kris Bryde. “We let them get a little bit of momentum and had a hard time finding it ourselves.”
The teams traded goals in the opening period with Langley twice taking one-goal leads. But after intermission, it was all Islanders with Delta scoring four times and just one Thunder tally sandwiched in between.
Delta scored early in the third to make it 8-3 before Langley broke a 20:27 scoring drought spanning the second and third periods.
“They caught a little bit of a run and we had a hard time stopping their momentum and putting the ball in ourselves,” Bryde said.
Trevayne Hunter, Kanen Hunter, Chase Moore and Jordan Daniel provided Langley’s offence. The four goals were a season-low.
Delta was led by three goals and two assists from Brian Larson, one goal and four assists from Isaac Richmond and four points apiece from John Woodward (two goals, two assists) and Cody Hoegg (one goal, three assists).
The Thunder outshot Delta 47-40 but Bryde said his team didn’t make things difficult enough for Delta goaltender Brayden Maskell work hard enough.
“We got quality shots, but we just weren’t picking our places for the most part,” Bryde said.
Up next for the Thunder is a matinee in Nanaimo on Saturday (June 23).
