New West and St. Catharines advance to semi-finals

July 22nd, 2008 by Lauren Ward

With Sunday night’s convincing 9-2 win over the Nanaimo Timbermen, the New Westminster Salmonbellies became the first team to win their quarter-final series. Sean Tessarolo stopped 32 of 34 in the win, and Alex Turner scored three. The Bellies took out the Timbermen three games to one in their best-of-five. As a reward for their troubles, New West will be facing the Victoria Shamrocks in the semi-finals beginning Saturday at Bear Mountain Arena.

The second Jr. A elimination happened last night as the St. Catharines Athletics doubled up on the K-W Braves 8-4 to end their series at four games to one. Joel McCready and Corey Small scored two apiece in the win while Zack Bowen made 38 saves.

In the other Ontario Jr. A game last night, the Brampton Excelsiors staved off elimination by topping the Orangeville Northmen 9-7. In a game that saw scoring coming from all angles, Dylan Evans, Kyle Rubisch and J. J. Laforet each had one goal and one assist while Cameron Flint led the team in points with three helpers. Tyler Carlson not only turned away 38 saves, but also added two assists. Matt McLeod and Brandon Ivey each scored twice for the Northmen. The series is now 3-2 for Orangeville.

Two games on the schedule tonight, with the Peterborough Lakers and Six Nations Arrows heading back to Peterborough for game six at 8:00 pm. The Lakers are down three games to two. And at the Central Arena in Burlington tonight, game six between the Chiefs and Akwesasne Indians will take place at 8:00 pm, although it remains to be seen who has the 3-2 advantage in the series. A meeting sometime today will determine the winner of game two.

Ward began covering lacrosse for The Lacrosse Journal in 2005 and became its editor-in-chief a year later. Email her at lauren.ward@nllinsider.com.

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