New blood – and even some familiar old blood – has helped right the New Westminster Salmonbellies’ ship.
Shaking off the shackles of a three-game losing skid, New West is now unbeaten in three, after a win against Coquitlam and a physical, hard-fought 12-12 tie with league-leading Victoria on the Island.
Western Lacrosse Association rookie Zach Herreweyers continues to make waves in his first month as a ’Bellie, scoring four times, including the tying goal with 2:03 left in overtime, in a rugged battle against the first-place Shamrocks last Friday.
Coupled with an 11-8 win over the visiting Adanacs a day earlier, it appears New West’s season is trending in the right direction.
While watching a four-goal lead slip from their hands in Victoria could be counted as a bad result, head coach Steve Goodwin sees a lot of positives in a contest where the obstacles were many.
“It was a character game for us, because from the outset things were lining up against us and we had to fight through them,” said Goodwin.
The waiting and travel time proved to slow them down out of the gate, and Victoria always has an ‘Island edge,’ as it is, before a loud, vocal crowd and local referees.
The ’Rocks built up a 4-1 lead before New West got going, counting the next three goals to sit tied 4-4 early in the second period.
Victoria counted two goals, including Greg Harnett’s shorthanded marker that gave the home team a 6-4 lead. But the momentum shifted, with Mitch Jones striking twice on speciality teams – one powerplay, the other shorthanded – to trigger a run that boosted New West into a 9-6 advantage just after the halfway mark.
After the ’Rocks closed within two, the visitors jumped ahead 11-7 with markers by Albertan import Austin Jerhoff and Herreweyers.
But Victoria wouldn’t be denied, as they counted four straight goals to force overtime, and struck first in the extra 10-minute period.
A one-man effort from Herreweyers earned the Salmonbellies a point, and improved their record to 3-3-1.
“(Herreweyers) got it with an impressive play,” said the coach. “He went one-on-one on the set-up, had the ball for a good seven, eight seconds and just willed his way to the net.”
In six games with New West, the Ontario native has 10 goals, while Mitch Jones has a team-high 11.
Victoria capitalized on six of its nine powerplay opportunities, while New West was good on four of six.
Also scoring for the ’Bellies were Jakob Doucet, Brandon and Justin Goodwin, Joel McCready and Logan Schuss.
Against Coquitlam, Anthony Malcom tallied twice, including the game winner, and set up three assists. Herreweyers netted a pair, with singles from Ian Hawksbee, Brandon Goodwin, Daniel McQuade, Nathan Stewart, Sean Tyrell, Doucet and McCready.
The squad is in the midst of a three-game week, following yesterday’s (past the Record’s deadline) game in Langley, and tonight’s rematch against the Thunder, 7:30 p.m. at Queen’s Park Arena. On Sunday they visit Nanaimo, before getting an 11-day break.
The club is also close to getting Kevin Crowley, who is expected to pull on the ’Bellies uniform for most of the games in July and playoffs.
