Three up, three down is supposed to be a good thing. At least in baseball it is.
For the Vernon Tigers, it represents three straight wins, followed by three consecutive losses, to land them mid-pack in the Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League standings.
The 3-3 Tigers have posted just seven goals in their last two games, including Wednesday night’s 12-4 loss to the league-leading Kelowna Raiders at Memorial Arena.
“Our offence just went flat. We took the second period off and they scored five unanswered goals and that just blew the game open,” said Vernon head coach Myles Brumpton.
“They’re a team that capitalizes on mistakes. They found holes in our lineup and they used their skill to capitalize.”
Mitch Steele, Riley Soleway, Nolan Frame and newcomer Darrell Landels, scoring his third goal in as many games, handled the Tiger attack.
“He has been a nice surprise,” said Brumpton, of Landels.
Brumpton said another bright spot Wednesday night was the Tigers’ short man, which killed off five penalties against a lethal Raider powerplay.
Tyler French, who plays hockey with the BCHL Westside Warriors, led the Kelowna offence with 3+3, and Brendan Urban (KIJHL Revelstoke Grizzlies) supplied 3+1 as the Raiders improved to 7-1.
Brumpton said the Tigers were able to overwhelm the Raiders physically at points, but couldn’t sustain the pressure for 60 minutes. He credited Chris Hamilton for going toe-to-toe with Raider tough guy Scott Renner (Powell River Kings).
The Tigers will look to rebound against the last-place Kamloops Rattlers (1-4) tonight (6 p.m.) at McArthur Island Sports Centre.
“We’re not about to hit the panic button. We just have to work on a few flaws we’ve shown in the last few games, our offence being the main one.”
