The Nanaimo Timbermen needed to score a lot of goals, and they were able to do so.
The senior A T-men outscored the Langley Thunder 16-13 in a barnburner on Sunday at Frank Crane Arena. It was a very different scoreline from the night before at Frank Crane, when the Timbermen were stymied in a 6-3 loss to the Maple Ridge Burrards.
Kaleb Toth, Nanaimo coach, said his team played well for most of Sunday’s contest.
“We had a couple lapses in judgment, but we battled back and we kept going and kept putting the pressure on and we didn’t stop,” he said.
The 16 goals represented a breakthrough for a team that up until then had been averaging fewer than seven goals per game.
“We talked and talked and talked the last few days, last few weeks about how to score goals,” Toth said. “Sometimes it comes down to just shooting the ball and not overthinking it.”
Nanaimo scored on its first shot of the game, which helped with confidence, the coach said. Mostly, he added, players were putting themselves in position to score.
“We have to make sure that we move the ball, we cut through the middle,” Toth said. “There’s really good goalies out there. You’re not going to be able to score on them all the time from the outside, so you have to get to the middle of the floor and you have to work your two-man games and run cutters to get those open looks from the inside.”
Jon Phillips, who scored three goals and assisted on five others, said guys at all positions contributed.
“Our D was just locking it down defensively; we got good goaltending … and our O was just moving the ball well side to side, getting good looks, getting inside and burying our chances,” he said.
Aside from his eight-point game, two other T-men forwards had hat tricks with Baden Boyenko scoring three goals to go with two helpers and Brody Eastwood also scoring three times. Gord Phillips scored twice. Tyson Roe, Keenan Koswin, Jerrett Smith, Drew Belgrave and Jordan Gilles also tallied and Mike DiGirolamo made 47 saves.
The night before, Evan Messenger scored twice, Gord Phillips also scored and Charles Claxton made 51 saves in defeat.
Jon Phillips said a lot of Sunday’s success came from just sticking with the basics, so that’s what the team will try to do again as it plays a rematch against the Thunder on Wednesday, June 20, in the Fraser Valley.
“It’s going to be a little different on the road in their building, so we’re going to go over, travel well and just play our game again … run well, shoot well,” Phillips said.
The Timbermen (3-5) have now faced every team in the league and are looking forward to getting all their guys in the lineup together to continue to push.
“We’re still a young team, we’ve got a handful of rookies here and every game’s a step in the right direction,” Phillips said. “The league’s wide open right now, so we have a chance in every game.”
GAME ON … Following Wednesday’s road game, the Timbermen are back home at Frank Crane Arena on Sunday, June 24, for a 6 p..m. game against the Coquitlam Adanacs.
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