Shawn Slaght, All Lacrosse All The Time – A Division of the Edge of Philly Sports Network
The number one seed will be moving on to the WLA Final after the Langley Thunder downed the Victoria Shamrocks 15-10 on Sunday night in Game 6.
After coming from behind 2-0 in the series, Victoria came back to tie it up to two games apiece before Langley won the last two games to clinch the series 4-2.
The Thunder will now face the Nanaimo Timbermen, who swept the Coquitlam Adanacs in the other semifinal, in the WLA Final with a berth in the Mann Cup on the line.
The Shamrocks kept Thunder goaltender Frank Scigliano busy as he stopped 42 of 52 shots for the win. Meanwhile, Langley’s offense was efficient, scoring 15 goals on 36 shots.
High scoring first period
It was Jacob Ruest that would get Victoria on the board first at the 2:46 mark to jump out to a 1-0 lead. Just under two minutes later, Noah Armitage scored for Langley to tie up the game 1-1 at the 4:39 mark.
The Thunder would grab their first lead of the game with Keegan Bell scoring at 6:07. Ruest bounced right back to tie it up again 2-2 13 seconds later.
At this point, it was back-and-forth until late into the second period. Curtis Dickson was retake the lead for Langley at 8:52. Not to be outdone, Dallas Wade replied at 10:18 to make it 3-3.
Dylan Kinnear scored at 11:58 and, again, Langley took a one-goal lead over Victoria. But the Shamrocks would even it up at 4-4 with a goal from Brad McCulley at 13:57.
It only took 22 seconds for Chase Scanlan to score Langley’s fifth goal for the fifth lead-change of the period. Ruest scored his hat trick goal at 15:19 as the score was tied 5-5 after the first period.
Back-and-forth battle continues
Connor Robinson had the game’s sixth lead change 42 seconds into the second frame to give Langley a 6-5 advantage.
The back-and-forth battle between these two teams continued. Jesse King, who had been relatively quiet this series, battled to tie up the game again at 2:34.
Langley finally gained some momentum late in the second period with a pair of goals by Scanlan. First, he took a feed from Robinson and found the back of the net at 15:40. With 24 seconds left in the second, Scanlan scored on the power play to make the score 8-6 for the Thunder.
With the extra attacker on the floor, Jesse King scored with three seconds left before the buzzer went. However, the Shamrocks still trailed 8-7 heading into the final stanza.
A date with the Timbermen
Robinson maintained Langley’s two-goal cushion 1:04 into the third period. Wade would reply for Victoria at 3:28 to make the score 9-8.
With Victoria unable to find the equalizing goal, Kinnear scored at 4:19, but Jesse King would reply right back at 5:33.
The Shamrocks’ hopes of staying in the series began to fade with goals from Dickson at 6:43 and Dobbie at 10:01 to extend Langley’s lead to 12-9.
Jesse King scored his fourth of the game with an extra attacker at 14:28 to narrow the gap to 12-10. But two goals from Scanlan and a marker from Dobbie would seal Victoria’s fate and advances Langley to the WLA Final with a final score of 15-10.
Three Stars
- Frank Scigliano, Langley Thunder
- Chase Scanlan, Langley Thunder
- Jesse King, Victoria Shamrocks
Top Scorers
Langley Thunder
Dane Dobbie, 2g 7a
Chase Scanlan, 5g 4a
Connor Robinson, 2g 4a
Curtis Dickson, 2g 4a
Victoria Shamrocks
Jacob Ruest, 3g 1a
Jesse King, 4g
Brad McCulley, 1g 2a
Marshal King, 3a
Chris Wardle, 3a
Don’t forget to check us out every Sunday night at 9pm (ET)
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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