With an 11-6 win over the Nanaimo Timbermen on Saturday night, the New Westminster Salmonbellies would claim first place in the WLA standings.
New Westminster will finish the season in first place at 15-3 with the Langley Thunder in seconds at 14-4. Nanaimo will finish third at 12-6 and the Victoria Shamrocks will be the final playoff-bound team at 10-7-1.
With that, Nanaimo will face Langley in the 2/3 semifinal with Game 1 on Tuesday. Meanwhile, New Westminster will face Victoria in the 1/4 match up with Game 1 on Aug. 2.
Quiet First Period
It was a quiet first period as New Westminster’s Zach Higgins and Nanaimo’s Devlin Shanahan only allowed one goal between the two of them.
The lone goal came 2:30 into the first period with Brett McIntyre scoring to give the Timbermen a 1-0 lead.
Late Second-Period Run Gives New Westminster The Lead
The Salmonbellies tied up the game on the power play 2:08 into the second period. It took 8:31, but Nanaimo replied with Ryan Sheridan scoring shorthanded to give the Timbermen a 2-1 advantage.
New Westminster knotted the game up 2-2 when Jason Jones took a pass from Drew Belgrave shorthanded with 7:50 left on the clock.
Taggart Clark scored 1:00 later on the power play to put the Timbermen back up 3-2. However, the Salmonbellies would go on a pivotal three-goal run in a span of 1:50. Scoring for New Westminster was Haiden Dickson, Noah Armitage, and Jason Jones
Sheridan rounded out the scoring in the second with 1:44 on the clock, yet New Westminster held a 5-4 advantage heading into the third.
Salmonbellies Pull Away in the Third
New Westminster would open the third with another three-goal run. Armitage opened the period with a pair of markers followed by Dickson’s second goal of the game.
Jon Phillips got Nanaimo back on the board 5:35 into the third period to narrow New Westminster’s lead to 8-5.
The Salmonbellies’ lead would grow to five with goals from Anthony Malcom and Brandon Goodwin would find the back of the net. Sheridan made it 10-6 with 5:01 to play. Dickson rounded out the scoring to allow New Westminster to claim first place with a final score of 11-6.
Three Stars
- Noah Armitage, New Westminster Salmonbellies
- Haiden Dickson, New Westminster Salmonbellies
- Brett McIntyre, Nanaimo Timbermen
Top Scorers
New Westminster Salmonbellies
Anthony Malcom, 1g 3a
Noah Armitage, 3g 1a
Haiden Dickson, 3g 1a
Nanaimo Timbermen
Brett McIntyre, 1g 3a
Taggart Clark, 1g 2a
Ryan Sheridan, 3g
Don’t forget to check us out every Sunday night at 9pm (ET) on eopsports.com
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.
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