A pair of impressive victories over the weekend have helped the Langley Junior Thunder earn an honourable mention in the most recent national rankings for junior A lacrosse squads.
The rankings came out on Monday morning following back-to-back weekend wins for the Thunder.
Trailing 8-3 in the second period, Langley scored the game’s final six goals to edge the Victoria Junior Shamrocks 9-8.
The Thunder dominated the third period, especially, outscoring the ’Rocks 5-0 while out-shooting the visitors 24-8 in the period.
The game was played on Sunday at the Langley Events Centre and keeps the Thunder two points ahead of Victoria for fifth place in the B.C. Junior A Lacrosse League standings. Three games remain in the regular season and Langley improved to 8-10.
Ryan Martel scored the winner — his fourth goal — and finished with five points. Andrew Gresham had three assists and Nathaniel Kozevnikov and Dylan Lacroix each had a goal and two helpers.
Torin Vanrheenen stopped 36 of the 44 shots he faced.
The win was the second of the weekend for Langley as they scored a season-high in a 15-7 win over the Junior Timbemen in Nanaimo the day before.
The game was tight through 40 minutes with Langley nursing a 8-5 lead. But the Thunder exploded for seven goals in the third period to win 15-7.
Gresham paced the attack with a goal and six assists while Trevor Chernoff had thee goals and three assists.
Sahawna Baker (two goals, two assists) and Dylan Lacroix (two goals, one assist) also had multi-goal games.
Vanrheenen made 46 saves in the victory.
The Thunder also lost 15-13 to the Delta Islanders on June 23 at the LEC. Langley scored eight times in the third period but could not overcome a 12-5 deficit. Baker (four goals, one assist), Brady Barrett (three goals, two assists), Nathan Mckeigan (two goals, two assists), Christian Bosa (two goals, two assists) and Connor McNeil (one goal, two assists) led the Thunder attack.
Langley hosts Burnaby on June 30 at the LEC.
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The Langley Intermediate A Thunder improved to 12-4 after a pair of victories last week.
The Thunder scored decisive wins, pounding Coquitlam 17-6 on June 21 and following that up with a convincing 16-5 victory over Burnaby two days later.
