The trio of Dane Dobbie, Garrett Billings and Connor Robinson combined for 15 points as the Langley Thunder rallied for a 12-9 victory on Saturday night.
Dobbie had five goals and seven points while Billings had six assists. And the rookie Robinson broke out in a big way, snapping a three-game pointless streak with a hat trick and five points for Langley’s first road victory in four games.
The Thunder were at the Poirier Sports Complex on Saturday night to face the last-place Coquitlam Adanacs in Western Lacrosse Association action.
Langley improved to 3-5-1 as they hit the midway point of the senior A lacrosse season while Coquitlam fell to 1-7.
And it was the Adanacs who had the early jump, scoring on three of their first five shots to take an early 3-2 lead after one. But the second period – which has a struggle for much of the season for Langley – worked in their favour this time, as they scored six of the period’s seven goals to lead 8-4.
The Adanacs would rattle off a 4-0 run in the first 10:17 of the third period before Dobbie, Robinson, Tyler Pace and Andrew Garant countered with their own 4-0 run for the Thunder.
Matt Delmonico led Coquitlam with two goals and four assists while Brett Kujala, Leighton Gibson and Vinny Ricci also had two goals apiece.
Garant, Pace and Cole Shafer finished with a goal and two helpers for Langley. Brandon Clelland also made his season debut for the Thunder, scoring once.
In goal, Tyler Richards made 34 saves for Langley while Dan Lewis stopped 46 of 58 shots.
The victory gives Langley the season series, two games to one, over Coquitlam.
The Thunder won’t have any time to savour the victory, however, as they are right back in action again today (Sunday, June 24) in Maple Ridge. The Burrards sit second at 5-2-0-1.
The Thunder pass the halfway mark of the 18-game Western Lacrosse Association this weekend as they play games nine and 10, respectively.
And through eight games, Langley was 2-5-1, but just two points back of the fourth-place Nanaimo Timbermen in the race for the final WLA playoff berth. The Thunder do have a game in hand, which they will use this weekend.
“We are starting to come together. It is nice when you have some of the veterans like Dobbie and Billings in the line-up,” said Tyler Pace, who had three goals in the team’s last game, a 10-10 tie versus Nanaimo.
“They have that experience and leadership, so the young guys follow suit. We are all adjusting, a lot of rookies, second year guys, but we will get there.”
The Thunder led for most of that game, but could not come up with the victory, costing the team the season-series in a potential tiebreaker.
“I thought it was the most consistent game for our goaltending and our defence this season. We played three periods,” said Langley coach Rod Jensen. “I thought we played well. It is just unfortunate we didn’t get over the top.”
Junior play
Meanwhile, a four-goal third period helped the Langley Junior A Thunder to a crucial victory.
Trailing 4-3 after 40 minutes to the Delta Junior Islanders, and knowing a loss could seriously hinder their playoff aspirations, the Thunder out-scored the Islanders 4-2 in the final frame for the 7-6 win on Saturday night at the Ladner Leisure Centre.
With the game tied at five, Tesi Oakes and Nathan McKeigan scored 20 seconds apart to give Langley the lead for good.
The win improved the Thunder to 8-6-1 and with 17 points, the team remains within reach of anywhere from second to fourth in the BC Junior A Lacrosse League standings. Langley sits fifth and the top four make the post season.
Ryan Martel led the offence on Saturday with a goal and five assists while McKeigan had two goals and an assist. Dylan McIntosh and Connor Watson had the other Thunder goals and Torin Vanrheenen made 47 saves in goal.
Liam McDonald led Delta with two goals and two assists.
Langley is back in action on Tuesday when they visit Queen’s Park Arena to battle the New Westminster Junior Salmonbellies.
Late in the week, the juniors fell 11-5 Thursday night against the Coquitlam Junior Adanacs.
