The Langley Thunder maintained the trend of home-floor advantage in grounding the Coquitlam Adanancs 9-5 in Game 3 of the Western Lacrosse Association finals Thursday night at Langley Events Centre.
Similar to Game 2 Tuesday in Coquitlam, the teams kept pace with one another through 40 minutes, posting period scores of 3-3 and 5-5.
A pair from Alex Turner, and singles by Nik Bilic, Lewis Ratcliff and Garrett Billings counted for the Thunder, while Jason Jones, Ryan Johnson, Dane Dobbie and two from Kevin Olson kept the Adanacs on target.
However, the Thunder offence surged in the third frame, counting four unanswered goals to seal the win, and a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven set.
In his series debut, Langley’s Kerry Susheski had two huge goals – the go-ahead plus an insurance marker – before Ratcliff completed his hat trick.
Vernon’s Brodie MacDonald rebounded from a Game 2 loss by recording 35 saves before being spelled off for the final four minutes by his backup, Steve Fryer.
Coquitlam’s Nick Rose finished with 43 stops.
The teams combined for 83 penalty minutes Thursday, which is nearly triple that of the series opener.
Game 4 went Saturday at Coquitlam’s Poirier Sports Centre. The fifth tilt goes Monday at the LEC. Visit www.theboxrocks.com to access live pay-per-view webcasts of the action.
