For a second straight week, the Sea Spray needed overtime but emerged victorious to hand the Grizzlies their first loss of the season while the Shooting Eagles used a strong fourth quarter to defeat the Black Fish to pull their record to .500 following week 4 Arena Lacrosse League West Division action at Langley Events Centre.
Sea Spray 12 Grizzlies 11 (OT)
Keegan Bell tied the game with 29 seconds to play and James Rahe scored the winner on the only shot of sudden-death overtime as the Sea Spray defeated the Grizzlies 12-11.
It was the Sea Spray’s second-straight overtime victory as they improved to 2-2 on the Arena Lacrosse League West Division season, while the Grizzlies (3-1) suffered their first defeat.
The teams were playing on Sunday afternoon at Langley Events Centre.
“It is a play we run all the time and it just happened to work. They kind of read us throughout the rest of the game so it was nice to get open. (Trevor) Funk hit me with a pass and I was running out of real estate; I threw it behind-the-back and it trickled in,” Rahe said of the decisive goal.
For much of the game, the Sea Spray were playing catch-up, as they only led twice – 1-0 and 2-1 – as the Grizzlies used a 4-1 second quarter to lead 7-4 at the half.
“We didn’t execute in the first half and (Grizzlies goaltender Brandon) Humphreys was playing really well, stopping the ball,” Rahe said, adding the team knew if they stuck to the game plan, the goals would start to come.
The Grizzlies extended the lead to 8-4 early in the third quarter before the Sea Spray scored four straight to even the score at eight. Nursing a one-goal lead with just over three minutes to play, the Grizzlies scored a huge short-handed goal as Pearson Willis struck for his fourth of the game to go up by a pair. But Bell made it a one-goal game on that same power play and then forced overtime in the final minute, setting the stage for Rahe’s winner.
“We need a little better execution, but a gritty performance in the second half after being down at the half. Just doing what it took: loose balls, face-offs, goaltending, some key goals at the right time; just a good team win,” said Sea Spray coach Russ Heard.
Adam Dickson was the game’s first star following his 4-goal, 8-point performance in the victory while goaltender Reed Watson was the third star with a 38-save performance. The Grizzlies’ Willis (4+1) was the second star.
Bell (3+2) and Rahe (2+3) each had 5-point games while Vinny Ricci (2+2) finished with 4 points. Funk (1+1) and Tyler Ewen (0+2) both had 2-point games.
For the Grizzlies, Jake Stott (1+5). Mitch McDole (2+3) and Willis (4+1) led the way with Erik Maas (1+2), Steve McKinlay (1+1), Sekawnee Baker (1+1) and Nash Moog (0+2) also have multi-point games. Humphreys made 41 saves in the Grizzlies goal as his team was outshot 53-49.
Shooting Eagles 15 Black Fish 9
Dylan Lacroix scored four times in a 4:32 span as part of a five-goal effort as the Shooting Eagles knocked off the Black Fish 15-9 on Sunday in week 4 action of the Arena Lacrosse League West Division at Langley Events Centre.
“I just blacked out; I don’t even know. Every play I just seemed to get open in the middle and get a good opportunity and they were just going in for me,” he said following his first-star performance.
The Shooting Eagles lead the ALL West with 54 goals (13.5 per game) on the season and with a balanced attack as Sunday saw both Lacroix (5+2) and Spencer Bromley (5+1) score five goals apiece while Garrett Winter facilitated the offence with 6 assists and 7 points.
“Any game can be anyone’s night when an offensive unit plays like that. We got looks and it ended in my stick a few times and Brom’s stick a few times. That is just how it went,” Lacroix said. “Everyone was moving the ball so well: cutting and no one was holding the ball, it wasn’t dying on one side. We played like a team the whole game.”
For the first three quarters, it was a tight contest with the Shooting Eagles ahead 9-8 with a period to play, before they put the game to bed thanks to a 6-1 fourth-quarter advantage.
Shooting Eagles coach Adam Smith was happy with the result but was not overly impressed with his team, especially in the first half.
“It felt like at times everyone was just running around trying to hit or prove themselves individually. What we tried to focus on was that is never going to win (the game) so let’s focus on team, and communication and team defence,” he said.
“When we went into intermission, that is what the focus was. Get away from getting emotionally engaged and get back to what we are trying to accomplish as a team.”
Both Shooting Eagles goaltenders saw action in the contest with Connor Nichol making 28 saves on 33 shots while Thomas Ungaro stopped 14 of 18 shots and had a pair of assists.
Mark Yingling (1+3), Jackson Ganton (1+2) and Ethan Self (2+0) had the other Shooting Eagles goals.
Chase McIntyre (3+2) and Jordan Roberts (1+4) led the Black Fish with five points apiece while Drew Kask (1+2), Ryan Jones (1+1), Brian Gillis (2+0) and Rhys London (1+0) had the other goals. Ryan Atkinson made 28 saves on 42 shots.
The game’s three stars were Lacroix, McIntyre and Winter.
Week 5 Schedule
The Sea Spray (2-2) will look for a third straight win as they face the Shooting Eagles (2-2) on December 11 at 1:00pm while the Grizzlies (3-1) take on the Black Fish (1-3) at 4:00pm.
About the Arena Lacrosse League: Formed in 2017, the ALL is regarded as the National Lacrosse League’s minor league, and with seven Ontario-based teams in the ALL prior to the launch of the ALL West, 15 per cent of the current NLL players have played at least one game in the ALL.
The ALL plays under the same game rules as the NLL, providing high-level competition and exposure that provides NLL management and executives the opportunity to monitor individual progress through game webcasting and statistics. Game evaluations from ALL West coaches will assist in development of players who are currently on NLL practice rosters or are ready for in-season call-ups.
To learn about the league, visit www.arenalacrosseleague.ca.
Photos courtesy of Langley Events Centre
