Shawn Slaght, All Lacrosse All The Time – A Division of the Edge of Philly Sports Network
The Burnaby Lakers pulled off a huge upset on their home floor Friday night, besting the Coquitlam Adanacs 12-9.
The Adanacs have been relying heavily on the goaltending of Christian Del Bianco most of the season, and Friday night was no different. Del Bianco faced 34 shots, stopping 24 of them, in 30:04 minutes of work. Andrew Gallant come in relief and was bombarded with 34 in 29:12 of playing time. In total, the Lakers had a stunning 68 shots on goal.
Faceoffs were nearly split down the middle as Nick Dos Santos won 13 of 24 draws for the Lakers against Brett Beetow and Brandon Balewicz.
With the first-place Victoria Shamrocks defeating Nanaimo at the same time, Coquitlam lost some ground in the standings. Victoria moved to 6-1, while the Adanancs drop to 5-3.
Martel the man for the Lakers
Burnaby jumped to a quick 2-0 lead right off the bat, in what was a bad start for Coquitlam. Dylan Watson took a slashing penalty for the Adanacs 57 seconds into the game, which proved costly. Ryan Martel would capitalize at 2:08 on the man-advantage. Thirty-two seconds later Martel struck again to put Burnaby up by two.
Jackson Gillis got the Adanacs on the board at 3:33. However, Martel potted his third goal in a 3:56 span for the first period.
John Hofseth, who’s had an outstanding season so far, scored for Coquitlam at 6:26 to make the score 3-2. The Lakers replied with a two-goal run with markers from Harrison Smith and Sekawnee Baker at 6:55 and 7:54 respectively to extend the Lakers’ lead 5-2.
Watson would make up for his penalty earlier in the period to score at 8:37. Alberta Junior A product Toron Eccleston rounded out the first period scoring at 15:46 to make it 6-3 for the Lakers.
Del Bianco’s night ends in the second
Burnaby continued to keep the pressure on, outscoring the Adanacs 5-2 in the second period. Del Bianco’s night came to an end midway through the period after giving up 10 goals.
Eccleston wasted no time for the Lakers, getting on the board 34 seconds into the second. Matt Delmonico replied at 3:56, but the Adanacs continued to trail 7-4.
The Lakers put up a four-goal run as they started to run away with the game. Eccleston had goals at 7:47 and 9:24. Kieran Mckay scored at 10:03. Del Bianco would play just over five minutes more before heading to the bench.
Gallant was in the goal for only 52 seconds before Laszlo Henning found the back of the net to give the Lakers a commanding 11-4 lead.
Watson would round out the second-period scoring with the extra attacker with four seconds left in the period. Heading into the third, the Lakers were upsetting the Adanacs 11-5.
Adanacs outscore the Lakers in the third
Coquitlam’s offence woke up in the third period. Goals from Delmonico, Adam Dickson and Luke Jaber capped off a four-goal run for the Adanacs to narrow the lead to 11-8 to put themselves back in striking range.
Eccleston scored his fifth of the game at 17:09 as Burnaby continued to hold on to their lead. With the extra attacker on the floor, Clark Walter scored for the Adanacs with 1:39 left in the game, but that would be all for the scoring. Make the final 12-9.
Three Stars
- Toron Eccleston, Burnaby Lakers
- Ryan Martel, Burnaby Lakers
- Connor Watson, Burnaby Lakers
Top Scorers
Burnaby Lakers
Toron Eccleston, 5g 1a
Ryan Martel, 3g 2a
Mark Yingling, 4a
Coquitlam Adanacs
Matt Delmonico, 2g 4a
John Hofseth, 1g 4a
Clark Walter, 1g 2a
Luke Jaber, 1g 2a
Dylan Watson, 2g 1a
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Shawn Slaght has been a sports reporter across the Canadian prairies for over 10 years and has experience covering everything from junior hockey to World Cup skiing to all levels of lacrosse. He is the Saskatchewan correspondent for All Lacrosse All The Time.
