The Burnaby Lakers traveled to The Q Centre Friday night to play the Victoria Shamrocks in Week 2 WLA action. Burnaby has had a rough go to start the season. They lost their first game by 15 to Langley, then squandered a three-goal lead in the third period to lose to Maple Ridge in Week 1. The Shamrocks, meanwhile, edged Langley in a thriller to start their season, but fell flat against Maple Ridge in their second game of Week 1. Unfortunately for the Lakers, their woes will continue for the time being. Tom Vaesen and Marshal King combined for 17 points as the Shamrocks administered a 17-7 shellacking to Burnaby. Victoria moves to 2-1 on the year, while the Lakers fall to 0-3.
Shamrocks hold two-goal edge after one period
King would get things started at 1:34 with a shorthanded goal. Patrick Dodds (4:41), then King with two more (5:05; 5:51) quickly had the Shamrocks up 4-0. Burnaby responded with a three-goal run of their own. Mark Yingling (6:14), Connor Goodwin (11:35), and Yingling again (16:20) narrowed the lead to 4-3. Lyndon Bunio (16:59) broke the Lakers’ run, but Ben Stewart (17:30) pulled Burnaby back within one. Cole Pickup (18:30) pushed Victoria’s lead back to two, 6-4, before the end of the first period.
Big second period gives Shamrocks handy lead
Enter the second period, and enter Vaesen for the Shamrocks. The sniper scored a natural hat trick (0:38; 1:29; 4:11) to extend Victoria’s lead to 9-4. Jacob Dunbar momentarily stopped the bleeding for Burnaby with a power play goal (6:13), only for King (6:39 power play) and Pickup (7:17 extra attacker) to push the lead to six. Dunbar scored again for the Lakers (7:30), but Vaesen’s fourth and fifth goals (8:21; 11:16) and Pickup’s third (17:05) gave the Shamrocks a 14-6 lead after two periods.
The third period was relatively quiet, since the game was well in hand for Victoria. Casey Wilson (14:13) was followed by King’s fifth goal (17:50). Dunbar got his hat trick goal (18:51), then Vaesen got his sock trick goal (19:32 power play) to close the book on a dominant win.
Other Stats of Note
The Stars of the Game were a clean sweep for Victoria. Vaesen (6g, 2a) earned 1st Star, King (5g, 4a) was named 2nd Star, and Pickup (3g, 2a) nabbed 3rd Star honors.
Victoria outshot Burnaby 63-41
Pete Dubenski and Cam Dunkerley split time in net for the Shamrocks. Dubenski made 10 saves in 17:30 of action and Dunkerley made 24 saves over 41:48.
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“Muffler” Mike Kostiuk was formally introduced to box lacrosse when he attended a New England Black Wolves game on a whim in 2016. Instantly hooked, he has since become an avid follower of the National Lacrosse League. Following the postponement of the 2019-2020 NLL season, he was offered the chance to share his wealth of statistical knowledge and unique insights with the lacrosse community at large. He cheerfully accepted, and currently serves as Edge of Philly’s correspondent for both the Albany FireWolves and New York Riptide.
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