Langley’s own Vancouver Stealth left Buffalo with a their first victory of the season under their belt.
The professional indoor lacrosse NLL team, currently one win and four loses thus far this season, made another eastern trip this weekend.
This time, they took on the Buffalo Bandits, leaving the KeyBank Center with a 2-3 triumph.
The Bandits opened the scoring just 43 seconds into the opening frame and added two more over the course of the next seven minutes, giving them the 3-0 lead after the first 15.
But it was not a case of games past, as rookie Cody Teichroeb answered the door when perennial tough guy Craig England came knocking. In the aftermath of the squabble, the Stealth came alive.
Corey Small added 3 goals in 1:05 of play, tying the game at 3s.
Rhys Duch and Logan Schuss added to the 5-goal second quarter run for Vancouver, although the Bandits added two goals of their own to finish the first half tied at five.
The teams traded goals in the third, with the Stealth leading 8-7, after 45 minutes of action. The fourth saw the teams tied for much of the action until Duch scored what the Stealth hoped to be the game winning goal at 10:10.
But that came to a screeching halt when Mitch Jones added the equalizer with 22 seconds remaining in what was thought to be the final quarter.
The teams headed to overtime where Joel McCready scored on the only shot in extra time to win the game for the Stealth, 11-10.
“I thought we won the game two or three times there, but the guys threw it short a couple times, but Joel winning it in overtime was good for our team and obviously getting us back in the win column is something we have been waiting for,” said assistant general manager and head coach Jamie Batley.
“We fought back hard, and with Penney tonight, he gave us a chance to win, our offensive guys played well and all around our game improved.”
The Stealth made a few line-up changes including activating their entire practice roster, Penney, Teichroeb and Roe.
Penney was given his first start since April 30, 2016. In 62 minutes of play, he helped backstop the team with a 52 save performance, 9.65 goals against average and .839 save percentage.
Small and Schuss did the heavy lifting for Vancouver’s offence including an eight-point performance for Small and 7 points from Schuss. McCready and Duch each had two goals and two assists.
Vancouver will be off next week with a bye.
Heading into Week 8, the Stealth will play back-to-back games including another road game on Friday, Jan. 26, against the Colorado Mammoth and then they return home on Jan. 27 to take on the defending NLL Champions, the Georgia Swarm.
Tickets to the next home game are still available at StealthLAX.com.
