It wasn’t a loss, but unfortunately it wasn’t a win either.
Instead, the Langley Thunder and Coquitlam Adanacs each took home a single point following an 8-8 tie on Wednesday night at Langley Events Centre. Both teams sit with identical 4-6-1 records, which have them tied for third place in the Western Lacrosse Association standings.
“A tie isn’t the greatest, but it is a point and we needed that,” said Langley coach Ian Poole. “It keeps us in the running, in the hunt and that is all we can ask for. We need to keep ourselves in a position to battle for the playoff hunt.”
The Thunder had a great start to the game as they scored the first three goals, but following a Coquitlam timeout when it was 3-0, the Adanacs rallied back, tying the score heading into the intermission and then potting four more to lead 7-3 late in the second period.
Langley finally snapped a nearly 26-minute goalless drought on an Evan Pattison transition goal before Kyle Playsted pounced on a rebound and cut the deficit to 7-5 ahead of intermission.
Chase Scanlan delivered a natural hat trick with goals at the 2:18 mark, at 7:39 and then the go-ahead marker at 15:25 for an 8-7 less with less than five minutes to play. But with 2:11 to play and with their goaltender pulled, the Adanacs drew even. Both teams had chances late in regulation and then in the five-minute sudden death 3-on-3 overtime period – Coquitlam had five shots on goal and Langley had four – but both goaltenders were up to the task.
“We just had to stay positive. We were getting chances, we just had to bear down on our opportunities,” Scanlan said about what was going through the offence’s mind during their scoring drought. “It was not the outcome we wanted, but we will take it.”
Scanlan (3-2) finished with five points and was the second star. Playsted (1-2), Nathaniel Kozevnikov (1-1), Charles Scanlan (1-1), Clay Scanlan (1-0) and Evan Pattison (1-0) provided the rest of the Langley offence with Aden Walsh making 39 saves on 47 shots.
Coquitlam’s Tyler Kirkby had a goal and six assists to earn the first star with Clark Walter finishing with a hat trick and five points and the third star award. Andrew Gallant had 44 saves in the Adanacs net.
This was the second of three meetings between the two teams with Coquitlam winning the first contest 11-5 back on June 12, a loss which left Langley with a 1-5 record. Since then, they went from allowing 11.5 goals against per game in their first six contests, to eight goals against since then, with their record improving to 3-1-1 in that span.
The Thunder now hit the road for three straight, beginning Sunday (July 7) to face the Timbermen at Nanaimo’s Frank Crane Arena. The team’s next home game at Langley Events Centre on July 17 against Nanaimo. Game time is set for 7:00pm.
The Langley Thunder lacrosse organization consists of Senior A, Junior A and Junior Tier 1 teams who play in the Western Lacrosse Association, BC Junior A Lacrosse League and BC Junior Tier 1 Lacrosse League respectively. All three teams play their home games at Langley Events Centre.
Photos courtesy of Ryan Molag Langley Events Centre
