While first place is already wrapped up, the remaining three teams are all within a game of one another as the Arena Lacrosse League West Division gets set for the stretch drive of their regular season.
The Shooting Eagles are locked into the No. 1 seed for the playoffs at 9-2 despite a 17-10 loss to the Grizzlies (4-7) while the Black Fish (5-6) hold down second place following their 16-11 win over the Sea Spray (4-7).
Both games were played on Saturday at Langley Events Centre.
Grizzlies 17 Shooting Eagles 10
Don’t look now, but the Grizzlies have found their game.
Following seven straight defeats, the team has now won three consecutive games as they are rounding into form.
The Grizzlies posted a dominant 17-10 win over the first place Shooting Eagles on Saturday afternoon at Langley Events Centre, the team’s second victory in five days and third straight overall. They now sit at 4-7 in the Arena Lacrosse League West standings while the Shooting Eagles – who have first place already wrapped up – are 9-2.
Following a low-scoring opening 15 minutes, the Grizzlies used an eight-goal second quarter to build a commanding 10-2 half-time lead.
“We are starting well, that’s the big thing, we are not playing catchup,” explained Dennon Armstrong. “Our first halves have really set the tone.”
Armstrong facilitated the offence, finishing with five assists among his six points. Kyle Brunsch led the offence with five goals while Marcello Mannarino (3-3) and Toru Morimatsu (3-2) both had hat tricks. Erik Forsellius (2-3) and Mitchell Nolet (2-0) each scored twice while Thomas Moffat (1-2) rounded out the scoring. Nash Moog also added four assists.
Having multiple weapons makes it that much harder for a defence to know what is coming.
“Just getting everyone involved, getting everyone touches, lots of shots from everyone, you don’t know who is scoring every shift. It is hard to defend when you have multiple goal scorers,” Armstrong said.
Through the first nine games, the Grizzlies were averaging nine goals, but they have since erupted for 18 and 17 goals, respectively.
“It is all about getting pieces. Getting Dennon Armstrong made our left side that much better. He is physically very fit, can make space for himself, has a wicked twister of a shot, but it gives us another piece,” said Grizzlies coach Daren Fridge.
Another key addition since the start of the season was Kyle Goundrey joining the coaching staff to aid the offence. Goundrey was an offensive coordinator with the now-defunct Panther City Lacrosse Club.
“Getting Kyle has been fantastic for us. We were so disjointed at the beginning (but) giving him time to work with our offence and having a set plan to go out there has been huge,” Fridge said.
“And we are defending better than we have before and scoring in the teens.”
Christian Del Bianco was once again solid in goal with 45 saves as the Grizzlies were outshot for the game. Tristan Lomas stopped 30 for the Shooting Eagles.
Mark Yingling led the Eagles with a hat trick and five points while Garret Winter (2-1) and Declan Fitzpatrick (2-0) both scored twice with Dylan Lacroix (1-1), Ben Gagnon and Ben Musso tallying once apiece.
Black Fish 16 Sea Spray 11
The Black Fish scored the only five goals of the second quarter and that proved to be the difference as they defeated the Sea Spray 16-11 to take sole possession of second place.
Both teams entered Saturday’s contest at Langley Events Centre with identical records with the Black Fish getting a leg up on second spot with a 5-6 record compared to 4-7 for the Sea Spray with just three regular season games remaining for the Arena Lacrosse League West Division.
The Black Fish had trailed 4-3 after the first 15 minutes before scoring all five in the second quarter and then the opening goal of the third, holding a multi-goal advantage the rest of the way.
Connor Watson (3-2) and Rhys Porteous (3-1) both had hat tricks for the Black Fish with Xander Cabeca and Lazlo Henning adding a pair of goals. Rhys Porteous (1-4), Ethan M’Lot (1-3), Jordan Roberts (1-1) also had multi-point games with Aidan Murphy, Cameron Ickert and Connar Abrams chipping in a goal each.
Brandon Humphrey finished with 31 saves in the Black Fish goal.
For the Sea Spray, Lee Jackman made 40 saves as his team was outshot 56-44. Nathan Ma had three goals and five points for the Sea Spray with Trevayne Hunter (2-3) and Thomas Semple (2-1) adding two-goal games while Vinny Ricci (1-3), Kai George (1-1), Aidan Ellis and Keegan Rittenger tallying once apiece.
UP NEXT: The ALL West now heads into a break in the schedule before returning to action on March 16.
