NLL Insider

B.C. Junior A

Victoria Shamrocks snag first win of Minto 2008

The Victoria Shamrocks and Calgary Mountaineers got things going last night in game one of the round robin with the host team Mountaineers keeping it a lot closer than most expected them to, surrendering a 9-6 win to the B.C. representatives.

“I thought we took them too lightly,” said Shamrocks head coach Dan Green. “They came out strong. On the first play of the game, one of their players hit our biggest defenceman and I think that set the tone for their team.”

Kory Kowalyk, Michael Pires and Alberta boy Joel Henry scored two apiece for the Shamrocks while Cory Conway assisted on five and earned himself player of the game honours. For the Mountaineers, Sean Pesowski led with three goals and Kane Swartout contributed a big game in net. Tonight at 7:30 PM MST the Orangeville Northmen take on the Edmonton Miners. The Mountaineers are back in action Sunday, while the Shamrocks will get a rest until Monday.

B.C. Junior A

Shamrocks force game five

Explosive offensive performances from Joel Henry, Dylan Benard and Cory Conway combined with 39 saves from Matt Flindell led the Victoria Shamrocks to a decisive 11-4 win over the Burnaby Lakers last night, evening up their series at 2-2 and forcing game five tonight in Victoria.

Henry had three goals and one assist while Benard added two and one and Conway one and three, Michael Pires had one and two, Cayle Ratcliff and Myles Kenny had one goal and one helper apiece and Kyle McCartney and Kory Kowalyk each added singles. Flindell made a massive 19 saves in the first period, shutting out the Lakers while his team jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Shaun Dhaliwal led the Lakers with two goals and one assist and Dane Stevens had one and two. The final in the best of five goes off tonight in Victoria, 5:00 PM PST at the Bear Mountain Arena.

B.C. Junior A

A Story of Two Generations

 Long hot nights are made easier by loud boisterous, capacity crowds. Players feed off the energy provided by the fans in a way that only a player can describe. Knowing that your fans are behind you and will be with you through every goal, every hit and every win is positive reinforcement that no matter what happens, the crowd is behind them.  But what do you get when you cross a Jr Championship starved organization and one of the top teams in the country?   Jammed packed arenas!  Unfortunately in Victoria, it’s an empty arena!  This is the story of two generations.

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B.C. Junior A

Lakers eliminate Adanacs in semi-finals

Despite being one of the most consistently highest-ranked teams in Canada and having a line-up that looked like it had been assembled specifically for a trip to the Minto, last night the Coquitlam Adanacs’ season ended in the exact manner that it started: a 4-3 loss to the Burnaby Lakers. The Lakers, led by an impressive goaltending tandem, completed the three-game sweep of the BCJALL regular season champs.

Scott Lowe started the game in net for Burnaby, making 18 saves and shutting out the Adanacs for the entirety of the first period and six minutes of the second before receiving a game misconduct for illegal equipment. Tom Wray stepped into the game, making 22 saves on 25 shots and keeping the Adanacs from completing their third period comeback. READ MORE »

B.C. Junior A

Victoria up 1-0 on New West

The Shamrocks struck first last night in what promises to be an explosive best of five between Victoria and New Westminster. Victoria topped New West 7-5 in a back-and-forth game one at the Bear Mountain Arena. Shamrocks keeper Matt Flindell stopped 38 of 43, including nine saves in a shut-out third period. Cory Conway led the team in points with one goal and three assists, and Cayle Ratcliff added two goals and one helper. New West goaltender Sean Tessarolo stopped 40 of 47, and captain Curtis Manning scored two and assisted on one.

Game two of both B.C. Junior A semi-finals is tonight, with Victoria visiting New West at 5:00 PM PST, and Coquitlam travelling to Burnaby for a 7:00 PM PST start. Burnaby leads that series 1-0.

B.C. Junior A

Nanaimo stays alive in series with New West

Down two games to none in a best of five series with the mighty New Westminster Salmonbellies, the Nanaimo Timbermen needed something spectacular Saturday night in order to stay alive in the quarter-finals. Enter: Colton Clark (pictured) and Rob Pierson.

With Clark’s five goals and one assist, Ryan Forslund’s two and four and Cody Bremner’s five helpers, the Nanaimo Timbermen took the 10-8 decision. READ MORE »

B.C. Junior A

New West up 2-0, Burnaby wins game one

The New Westminster Salmonbellies and Nanaimo Timbermen faced off again last night—on the heels of Saturday’s 16-7 New West win—and while the same team came out on top the Timbermen made them work a whole lot harder for it, with a final score of 11-8.

The Timbermen held the lead for the first two periods, up 6-5 at the end of the second however the third is when the Bellies hit the ground sprinting, snapping in six goals and limiting Nanaimo to two to gain the upper hand. READ MORE »

B.C. Junior A

New West takes 1-0 lead in series with Timbermen

Every team wants to get off on the right foot at the beginning of the playoffs, and a 16-7 win in the first game of a five-game series is a good way to do it. Last night the New Westminster Salmonbellies stretched their 16 goals out over all three periods—scoring six in both the first and second and four in the third—and held off a second period six-goal surge from the Timbermen for the lopsided win. READ MORE »

B.C. Junior A

B.C. Junior A playoff preview

While tonight’s final regular season game between the Coquitlam Adanacs and New Westminster Salmonbellies is bound to be a good one—and you can look to the last clash between the two for proof—it really doesn’t have any bearing on who finishes where in the standings. With the top six set, playoffs fast approaching, and more parity in this league than we’ve seen in years, here’s a look at who’s facing who, how they’ve fared against each other, and what we can expect from the first round of the playoffs. READ MORE »

B.C. Junior A

B.C. Jr. A Q&A with Nanaimo’s John Flatters

There’s been crossover between lacrosse and hockey for as long as the sports have coexisted, but cracking a B.C. Jr. A line-up after three years of being out of the game? That’s different. That’s John Flatters. While in the process of recovering from an injury and plotting a return to the playoffs, the big defenseman talks being banned from lacrosse, his future in the sport, and what everyone assumed was the reason for his broken hand.

Not only is this your first year of Junior lacrosse, it’s also your last. Can you talk a bit about how that ended up happening? READ MORE »

B.C. Junior A

PoCo sends hold-out Moore to Coquitlam

The Port Coquitlam Saints have worked out a trade deadline deal to send Jr. A hold-out and current Jr. B star Trevor Moore across town to the Coquitlam Adanacs in exchange for right-handed forward Ryan Kwasnica.

“To get a player of Ryan’s ability near the end of the trade deadline is a great thing,” said head coach Karl Christiansen. “We have seen him in games this year where he just was under-utilized and not given the opportunity to do what he does so well and that is score goals. READ MORE »

B.C. Junior A

Big weekend in B.C. Junior A

The top four teams clashed in B.C. Junior A this weekend, with the first of the big match-ups happening Saturday night in Victoria with the Jr. Shamrocks taking on the New Westminster Salmonbellies. With a 10-7 overtime win over the Salmonbellies, the Shamrocks got a firmer grasp on second place and kept New West rooted in third.

Michael Pires continued his scoring tear with three goals, including one in overtime. Myles Kenny scored the other two overtime markers. Joel Henry and Cory Conway had one goal and three assists each and Matt Flindell turned away 42 Salmonbelly shots. Drew Duncan had two goals for New West, and Sean Tessarolo made 40 saves.

Sunday night the Coquitlam Adanacs took on the Burnaby Lakers and came out on top 8-5. Tied 4-4 after the second period, the Adanacs broke out in the third, outscoring the Lakers 4-1 to remain in first place. Michael Krgovich and Scott DeFrancesco had two goals and one assist each, and Joel Weber came up with 30 saves, including 11 in the third. Matt Wilson won 12 of his 14 faceoffs. Brock Armour, Alex Gajic, and Chase Williams had one goal and one assist each for the Lakers.

Additional weekend scores: READ MORE »

B.C. Junior A, RMLL, WLA

B.C. and Alberta results

The Coquitlam Jr. Adanacs moved into sole possession of first place in B.C. Junior A last night with a 7-6 win over the Victoria Shamrocks. Outscoring Victoria 7-4 through the first two periods paid off for the Adanacs, as the Shamrocks were the only team to hit the back of the net in the third. Garrett McIntosh, Jordan Weir and Scott DeFrancesco each scored twice in the win. In his first game back with the Shamrocks, Michael Pires had three goals and three assists.

The New Westminster Jr. Salmonbellies found their ninth win of the season last night, tripping up the Delta Islanders 9-4. Kyle Belton led the Bellies with three goals and one assist, while Jesse Fehr chipped in with one goal and two helpers. Sean Tessarolo stopped 25 of 29. Dane Stevens had one goal and one assist for the Islanders.

In Senior A the Coquitlam Adanacs turned a 3-0 lead in the first into an 8-5 final as they topped the Victoria Shamrocks to slip into second place with a record of 6-1. Jason Wulder and rookie Dane Dobbie put in two goals and two assists each to lead the Adanacs while Ryder Bateman had one goal and two helpers for the Shamrocks. Chris Levis made 36 saves for the win.

A little further east the Edmonton Eclipse kept their perfect record intact, moving to 5-0 on the season after eking out a 5-4 win over the Calgary Jr. Raiders. Kyle Kowalchuk put in a big performance between the pipes to earn the win, while Sean Reid and Eric Ransome scored two each and Derek Draper added the fifth.

B.C. Junior A

South Fraser hits the win column, Burnaby tops PoCo

The biggest South Fraser crowd of the season picked a good game to turn up to as the Stickmen mounted a huge third period comeback and tapped in two goals in overtime to down the Nanaimo Timbermen 9-7 and finding their first win of the season.

Mitch Dibblee led the third period heroics, scoring two of his four goals to help his Stickmen outscore the Timbermen 5-1 to chop down the 6-2 deficit they’d been stuck with after the second. In overtime it was Greg Mahony on the powerplay with the go-ahead and Scott Davidson with the insurance. Graham Chandler came into the game at the beginning of the third and stopped 28 of 29 to make the win possible. For the Timbermen, Cody Bremner and Ryan Forslund had two goals and one assist each.

In Port Coquitlam last night the Burnaby Lakers held off a Saints comeback attempt to take the 10-8 win.

PoCo’s Jordan Flaman scored the first of the game just 30 seconds and that 1-0 lead would hold until Riley Loewen went on a four goal tear in the first, each goal accompanied by an Alex Gajic assist. The Lakers led 9-2 after two periods and have that big early lead to thank for their win, as the PoCo Saints outscored them 6-1 in the third.

Loewen ended the game with five goals and one assist, and Gajic notched two and five. Flaman and Andrew Murphy had two goals apiece for the Saints.

B.C. Junior A, Ontario Junior A

Toronto and Coquitlam notch wins in Junior A

Two winless teams went into the lone Ontario Jr. A game last night, but only one came out that way as the Toronto Beaches defeated the Mississauga Tomahawks 9-6.

It was even in the early going with the lead bouncing back and forth until Toronto’s Chris Nash and Damon Edwards each snapped one in in the final five minutes of the second period to take a 7-5 lead. Mississauga got one back in the third but the Beaches followed it up with another pair to finalize the win.

Todd Hosmer had three goals and two assists for the Beaches while Aiden Genik had one and two and Shaun Palmer brushed off 47 shots from the Tomahawks. Martin Whittaker had one goal and two helpers for Mississauga. Both teams are back in action tonight with Mississauga vs. K-W and Toronto taking on Orillia Rama-Hammond.

Over in BC, Coquitlam got the early 3-0 jump on South Fraser in the first period, but the Stickmen came back and made a game of it in the second and third where they were only outscored 9-8 by the Adanacs. Coquitlam paced themselves to a 12-8 win.

Jarrett Davis accounted for half of the Adanacs goals, scoring six and helping on one. Mike Krgovich had two goals and three assists, Scott DeFrancesco had one and four, and defender Matt Wilson assisted on three. Joel Weber and Dan Lewis split time in net, making ten saves each.

For South Fraser, Greg Mahony had three goals and three assists and Scott Davidson had two and two. Goaltender Mike Lowe made 45 saves on 57 shots. South Fraser has a home game tonight against the Nanaimo Timbermen.

B.C. Junior A, Ontario Junior A

New West downs Delta and Whitby tops K-W in Jr

In the New Westminster Salmonbellies and Delta Islanders match last night, both teams got off to a slow scoring start. Unfortunately for the Islanders, only one of the the teams stayed that way and New West prevailed in a 16-3 blowout.

After taking 25 shots in the first period and only finding the back of the net twice, the Salmonbellies cranked the floodgate open in the second and third, scoring seven in each period. Despite a 13-minute break from action in the second, Delta goaltender Steve Bourget made a total of 41 saves on 53 shots.

Leading New West in scoring was Kevin Crowley with three goals and three assists. Adam Foss also added three goals while Alex Turner, Alex Tuura and Jarrett Toll scored two apiece. Tanner Lemire, Dane Stevens and Kyle McCartney scored for the Islanders. Sean Tessarolo turned away 26 of Delta’s shots.

It was a lot closer in Ontario last night, with the Whitby Warriors squeaking by the Kitchener-Waterloo Braves 5-4 in overtime. Brett Bridges scored his second goal of the night at 8:23 in the extra time to take the win. Mitch McMichael also had a pair for the Warriors.

The Braves got the early jump, going up 4-0 in the first period on the strength of two goals from Adam Payerl and three helpers from Shawn Udema. Warriors goaltender Jesse Gill shut-out the remainder of the game — two full periods plus overtime — and added one assist while his team orchestrated their slow and steady comeback. With the win the Warriors have evened out their record to 5-5. K-W also sits at .500 with 4-4.

B.C. Junior A, WLA

Langley, New West Sr. and New West Jr. win in BC

It was a night of lopsided victories in British Columbia as the Langley Thunder stomped the Nanaimo Timbermen 19-8, the Sr. New Westminster Salmonbellies dropped the Coquitlam Adanacs 12-7, and the Jr. New Westminster Salmonbellies rolled over the Delta Islanders 15-5.

In the Langley-Nanaimo game, Tom Johnson had four goals and two assists for the Thunder, Rob Buchan had one goal and seven helpers, and Josh Joseph and Justin Norbraten chipped in two goals and three assists each. Scott Ranger had four goals for the Timbermen.

Over at the Coquitlam Sports Centre, Ian Hawksbee had one goal and five helpers to lead the Salmonbellies in points, while Jamie Floris had three goals and two assists and Chris Gill had two and three. For the Adanacs, Jason Wulder put up five points.

In BC Junior A action, Delta Islanders keeper Steve Bourget faced a Salmonbelly onslaught, making 37 saves in the two periods he played prior to being relieved of goaltending duties. It wasn’t enough to keep the Islanders in the game, however, as they dropped the 15-5 decision. Kevin Crowley and Alex Turner led the New West offense with five points apiece. New West goaltender Neil Tyacke made 25 stops. For the Islanders, Robbie Campbell had two goals and one assist. A total of 181 penalty minutes were assessed, with New West’s Adam Foss taking home the tightly contested title of most penalized player of the game with 24 minutes.

B.C. Junior A

Nanaimo and Port Coquitlam add to the win column

Heading into Friday night’s game, the Nanaimo Timbermen had never beaten the Burnaby Lakers. Had never even come close, really, with the Lakers scoring sometimes breaking into the 20’s versus the Timbermen. But as the saying goes, there’s no time like the present — and the present holds a 7-4 Nanaimo win over Burnaby.

Tied 4-4 with seven minutes left in regulation, the Timbermen went on a three goal spree — one from Steve Higgs and two from Andrew Kelly — to take the 7-4 lead they would end the game with. Goaltender Drew Dickie made nine saves on ten shots in the pivotal third period, and 30 saves overall. Colton Clark led the team in points with three. Shaun Dhaliwal had two goals for the Lakers.

Over in Port Coquitlam, the PoCo Saints downed the South Fraser Stickmen 6-5. With the win PoCo improves their record to 5-4.

Martin Cummings had three goals for the Saints while Andrew Murphy had one goal and three assists. Richard Cambrey made 27 saves. For the Stickmen, Scott Davidson and Mitch Dibblee had three points apiece.

• Note: any Jr. A player from B.C., Ontario or Alberta that would like to participate in weekly player polls please send a quick email to lauren.ward@nllinsider.com
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B.C. Junior A, WLA

Coquitlam hops into first in Jr, Victoria downs Langley in Sr

There was a shaky start to it — a 6-6 tie halfway through the second period — but in the end Joel Weber got into the Coquitlam net, blocked 19 of 20, and the Adanacs got the win that was expected, a 16-7 victory over the South Fraser Stickmen that pushes them into first place with a 6-1 record.

Scott DeFrancesco led the Adanacs with five goals and four assists while Jordan Weir added three goals and Jarrett Davis scored one and helped on seven. Mitch Dibblee had three goals and two assists for the Stickmen. With the loss the Stickmen fall to 0-9.

Elsewhere in British Columbia lacrosse, the Victoria Shamrocks handed a home opening loss to the Langley Thunder, 11-9. With the win the Shamrocks improve to 2-0.

Langley got the early jump, going up 3-0 to start the game but the Shamrocks battled back with five straight goals and kept it close until almost halfway into the third when Ryder Bateman and Lewis Ratcliff teamed up to score three goals in just over one minute and put the game just out of reach.

Ratcliff had four goals and three assists overall, Bateman had three and two, and Kelly Hall, Teddy Jenner, Luke Hinton and Tyler Heavenor had three points apiece. Nick Patterson — last week’s WLA player of the week — held the Thunder to three goals in the pivotal third period, stopping 15 of 18. Tom Johnson led Langley with two goals and two assists.
Photo credit: Gary Woodburn

B.C. Junior A

BC Junior A: understanding the standings

With a little thing called the Champion’s Cup out of the way (not that we’ll be leaving the NLL behind any time soon), we can now turn our attention to the summer leagues where the BC Junior A Lacrosse League has been in action for over one month. From the surprisingly surging Burnaby Lakers to the struggling South Fraser Stickmen, here’s a quick catch-up on what’s been going on and what we can expect from the premier junior players on the West coast. The standings so far:
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