The Vernon Source for Sports Tigers extinguished the South Okanagan Flames 16-6 in a Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League rumble Wednesday night at Kal Tire Place.
Jordan Orr’s game-high six assists led the way for the Tigers (13-2). Orr is the Tigers’ top point producer with 20 goals and 52 points.
“He was great for us last night. He has a natural ability to find open guys through a mess of sticks,” said Tigers’ coach Keith Hanna.
Ryan Sarazin pocketed four goals and two assists, but his most impressive shift was when he ran a marathon, killing a five-minute major in the third period.
Captain Brett Hanna, Connor Buick, Darrell Landels and Jay Seaton all scored a pair. Quintin Harrish and Austin Lewarne supplied singles and Steele Pelletier recorded a goal and an assist after being called up from the midget Legends.
Colton DeBoer also played his first game with the Tigers. He was recently acquired from the Armstrong Shamrocks (4-10) and will return to the Irish next season.
It was just another day for goalie Aaron Jensen. The Cats’ most consistent player recorded 48 saves and two helpers.
The Flames (4-11) have made a late-season push and have jumped into third over the Shamrocks.
“They are a much improved team now from the begining of the year,” said Hanna.
The Flames received a hat trick from assistant captain Chris Pond, a pair of snipes from captain Kaid McLeod and a single from their other assistant Tanner Thompson.
The Tigers have rattled off nine straight wins and have crawled within one game of first-place Kamloops Venom (14-1).
The Tigers and the Venom battle Saturday night at Kal Tire Place in the season finale.
“It’s not the end all, but we would definitely like to finish first. It would complete the season nicely for us,” said Hanna. “The Kamloops game will be a good playoff warm up.”
Playoffs begin Tuesday night at Kal Tire Place. The first round is a best-of-five with the series alternating home and away games each night.
The Shamrocks played the Kelowna Raiders (2-13) Thursday night and host the Flames tonight in their season finale at Nor-Val Sports Centre.
Former Shamrock Brett Hawrys has been traded along with goalie Pete Dubenski by the Nanaimo Timbermen (7-11-1) to the Coquitlam Adanacs (17-3-1) of the B.C. Junior A Lacrosse League.
Hawrys is a rental player who will be returned to the T-Men next season. He led Nanaimo with 39 goals and 67 points.
Former Tiger goalie Brodie MacDonald of the Western Lacrosse League Langley Thunder had his National Lacrosse League rights with the Edmonton Rush traded to the Minnesota Swarm for the first overall selection and a second-round pick in the 2015 draft, plus goaltender Tyler Carlson.
MacDonald is 6-5 with a 8.00 goals against average and an .828 save percentage this season with the Thunder.
