The senior A Timbermen scored when the game was on the line.
Nanaimo defeated the Maple Ride Burrards 10-7 on Friday night in Western Lacrosse Association action at Frank Crane Arena.
The contest was an exciting one that saw the teams trade the lead in the third period. The T-men led going into the final 20 minutes, fell behind, but then got the edge back.
“We just had to dig deep,” said Mason Pynn, who scored a hat trick. “We just kept pressing the tempo … and it paid off in the end. We were giving it our all. We wanted that game.”
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Kaleb Toth said he liked his team’s third period and the ways guys responded to the flow of the game and believed they could win.
“Even though we let them back into it, we were confident enough that we could continue to fight and continue to push,” Toth said.
Chase Fraser scored the game-winning goal on a play where he seemed to have no angle out to the side of the net. Ryan Lee, back in the Nanaimo lineup, scored his first goal on a highlight play, as he had been knocked to the ground at the edge of the crease but reached up to snag a pass, and still on his knees, got off a shot and scored.
“You don’t expect shots like that to go in and when they do go in – circus-like with Lee and then with no angle with Fraser – it just gets the team super fired up,” Pynn said. “We just built off the energy of those goals.”
Other Nanaimo scorers Friday were Jordan Gilles, Quinn Smith, Brody Eastwood and Jake Cullen. Pete Dubenski was the winning goalie as shots were 55-46 in favour of the Burrards.
Nanaimo plays another home game on Sunday, taking on the first-place Victoria Shamrocks.
“We’ve just got to keep playing hard like we were doing,” said Pynn. “Nobody looked slow out there tonight and everyone was battling.”
GAME ON … The Timbermen and Shamrocks play Sunday at 7 p.m. at Frank Crane Arena. Tickets will be available at the door.
sports@nanaimobulletin.com
