Discipline burned the South Okanagan Flames in their 16-5 loss to the Vernon Tigers.
Monday’s loss at Memorial Arena drops the Flames to 5-6-1 in the Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League after losing to the Tigers 9-6 on the road. Heading into the final period, the Flames trailed 9-5. Flames coach Kevin Thompson said he has talked to his players about penalties from the beginning.
“I don’t know what me or the coaching staff are doing wrong with keeping these guys out of the box,” said Thompson. “We’re trying to get back to how we used to be. We didn’t get penalties. The players say they are disappointed. Enough talk. You got to show it. You can only talk it so many times.”
The Flames trailed 4-1 after the first, Sam Jones scoring. In the middle frame, Brenden Deverill, Rhys MacDonald, Connor Walton and Jake MacLeod scored. The Flames nearly got shutout in the third until Collin Duffield scored with two minutes remaining. Thompson thought it was incredible that the players generated just one goal because he felt they had chances.
Not helping the Flames are injuries to six players, including Levi and Tanner Thompson and well as Louis Shortreed. Goalie Charles Nicholas left the game with an injury.
“You put those three guys on any team and that is a game changer,” said Thompson. “We’ve got a good team and we aren’t showing it. We are not reaching our potential.”
Shortreed is third in team scoring with 12 goals and 26 points in eight games. Levi is fourth with nine goals and 16 points in eight games, while Tanner has played five games and has five goals and nine points. The Flames travel to Kelowna Thursday to play the Kelowna Raiders. Their final regular season home game of the season is June 19.
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