This time, when the game was close in the final moments, the Timbermen were able to win.
The senior A lacrosse squad bounced back from two tough losses the previous weekend to beat the Burnaby Lakers 9-7 on the road Tuesday.
“I thought we played great,” said Kaleb Toth, Timbermen coach. “The game was a pretty tight game at both ends. Defences played well, both goaltenders played well.”
The coach said his team responded the right way to recent losses, as players remained confident in crunch time.
“We didn’t doubt that we could win…” Toth said. “A lot of games in this league are won and lost in those last five minutes. In the two that we lost, we just didn’t get any breaks and they got possessions. In this game, we ended up getting the possessions.”
The T-men took the lead early in the third and although the Lakers twice closed to within a goal, the visitors responded each time to hold off the home team.
Ryan Lee scored a hat trick to lead Nanaimo’s offence, Colton Clark added a pair and Randy Jones, Jake Emms, Jordan Cunningham and Jake Cullen were other scorers.
In goal, Pete Dubenski made 44 saves to outduel former creasemate Zak Boychuk, who made 35 stops.
Kyle Hofer won 11 of 19 faceoffs as the T-men wanted to try something new with the unit.
“The majority of times he put the ball where we thought it would go and our guys did a great job of finding the loose ball and picking it up,” Toth said. “Any extra possessions you have gives your team an extra opportunity to score and takes one away from them.”
GAME ON … The T-men and Lakers play a rematch Sunday (July 10) at 7 p.m. at Frank Crane Arena.
sports@nanaimobulletin.com
