Gary Groob
All Lacrosse All The Time – A Division of Edge of Philly Sports Network
The Burnaby Lakers (1-1) visited the New Westminster Salmonbellies (1-2) at the Queen’s Park Arena on Thursday night.
The Salmonbellies got off to a quick start with Mitch Jones (3g,3a) scoring unassisted at 1:41.
Burnaby stormed back taking control of the first period with a six goal run. Pearson Willis (1g,0a) converted a Lazslo Henning pass at 2:49, followed by Ryan Martel (4g,2a) finishing off a Nick Hannay pass at 5:29 on the power play. James Rahe (2g,2a) increased the New West lead to 3-1 converting a Connor Watson pass at 6:21, followed by Ryan Martel with his second of the game off a Jacob Dowell pass at 7:52. Phillip Buque (1g,0a) continued the Salmonbellies onslaught with a laser off a Connor Watson pass at 8:25.
The pace was fast, with end to end action, with both Zak Boychuk (Buranby goalie) and Zach Higgins (New Westminster goalie) coming up big time after time.
Nick Jenson (1g,0a) scored for the Lakers in transition, converting a Zak Boychuk pass at 15:01, but Mitch Jones, with his second of the night, stopped the Lakers run scoring off a Jason Jones pass at 17:54. Trevayne Hunter (1g,0a) scored once more for Buranaby to end the first period.
After one period, Burnaby 7 New Westminster 2.
Second Period:
The Salmonbellies once again got off to a fast start when Marcus Klarich (1g,1a) scored off a Jordan McBride pass at 1:27, but Ryan Martel’s third of the night restored the five goal lead for the Lakers on the power play at 9:45.
Jordan McBride hammered a shot off the crossbar at one end, only to feed Harrison Smith (1g,0a) in transition the other way, who increased the lead to 9-3 for Burnaby at 10:36. Thomas Vela (2g,0a) scored once more for New Westminster at 17:27 and that’s how the period would end.
After two periods, Burnaby 9 New Westminster 4.
Third Period:
The Salmonbellies came out in the third period on a mission potting five of the next six goals.
Quinn MacKay (1g,0a) got the scoring started converting a Justin Salt pass at 1:07, followed by Silas Richmond (1g,1a) scoring unassisted just 0:18 seconds later. Thomas Vela got his second of the evening converting a Connor Evers pass at 2:56 to narrow the lead to just two goals.
James Rahe scored his second of the night, off a Ryan Martel pass at 7:09 shorthanded to give Burnaby a 10-7 lead. Mitch Jones and Jordan McBride scored just 0:30 seconds apart from each other to narrow the game to just one goal, but Connor Watson (1g,3a) gave the Lakers a two goal lead again, converting a Ryan Martel pass at 12:46 on the power play.
Things got very interesting from this point on.
Haiden Dickson (2g,0a) scored twice in 2:32 for New West tying the game with just 3:23 left to play, but Burnaby’s Ryan Martel’s fourth goal of the night would turn out to be the winning goal at 19:04, followed by an empty net goal by Keiran McKay (1g,0a) at 19:58 to seal the deal.
Final score, Burnaby 13 New Westminster 11.
The Three Stars:
- First Star………….Ryan Martel
- Second Star…….James Rahe
- Third Star…………Mitch Jones
Game Stats:
- Shots on goal were in favor of the Lakers 52-50
- Faceoffs were even at 14-14.
- Burnaby went 3 for 3 on the powerplay, while the Salmonbellies went 0 for 3 and gave up a shorthanded goal.
Top Scorers:
Burnaby Lakers:
- Ryan Martel 4g, 2a
- James Rahe 2g, 2a
- Connor Watson 1g, 3a
New Westminster Salmonbellies:
- Mitch Jones 3g, 3a
- Thomas Vela 2g, 0a
- Jordan McBride 1g, 1a
Gary Groob has been involved with Lacrosse for the majority of his life, whether playing, coaching, or covering the sport for the media.
An avid fan, with a real drive about helping to “grow the game”, Gary became part of podcasts about the game in 2010. Through the podcasts, Mr. Groob was given an opportunity to write about lacrosse, and the rest as they say, is history.
Through many miles (flying and driving) Gary has made inroads with the National Lacrosse League, Major Series Lacrosse League, the Ontario Lacrosse Association, as well as the Arena Lacrosse League, covering the leagues, their teams, and players, working for, and in concert with all of them.
In the year 2020, Mr. Groob was made the media person for the Arena Lacrosse League, voted onto the board of directors of the Brampton Excelsiors Lacrosse Club, as well as being made administrator of the Lacrosse page “Global Lacrosse” with a membership of 9000 members in over 90 Countries. Gary was also made an administrator of Lacrosse History Past Present and Future in 2022.
Mr. Groob co-hosts a weekly Lacrosse show on Spanglish Sports World, and ZingoTV channel 250, as well as writes a weekly lacrosse column for La Portada Canada News (both in print, and online).
Gary also hosts a Lacrosse talk show and podcast for The Edge of Philly Sports Network, seen live Sunday nights at 9pm (ET), and archived on the Edge of Philly YouTube page, as well as Spotify.
Mr. Groob’s other sports interests include Hockey, Football, Boxing, Wrestling, and Baseball, competing competitively in Boxing and Wrestling for many years.
