Practice is making the junior A New Westminster Salmonbellies near perfect.
The B.C. Junior Lacrosse league leaders won their 11th straight contest, felling the Nanaimo Timbermen 18-6 at Queen’s Park Arena on Sunday.
New West opened with a 6-0 first period, including back-to-back unassisted breakaway goals by Luke Gillespie. The final-year Salmonbellie righthander added a third unassisted counter in the final period.
Johnny Pearson also added a hat trick with a five-point outing, while league scoring leader Connor Robinson reached the 90-point mark with a game-high four goals and three assists in the win.
The Salmonbellies appear to have taken their game to a different level following a 16-13 shootout win over Victoria at Queen’s Park at the beginning of the month.
“That game, in my opinion, was just a wakeup call,” said New Westminster goalie Rocky Bowman. “We talk a lot about what we can improve on. They’re giving me the outside shot and we start from there. It’s giving me the opportunity to stop the ball and it’s working.”
That’s an understatement to be sure.
The win improved New West’s record to 16-1-0, a full three points ahead of the second-place Coquitlam Adanacs, who got past a stubborn Burnaby Lakers 8-6 at the Bill Copeland centre on Sunday.
With just four regular season games to go, New West is averaging more than 15 goals per game, while allowing just over seven against.
The rest of their team gave is also evident with a league-best 362 assists, 52 power-play goals and 18 short-man tallies.
“We have to improve and when we run the ball we can succeed there,” added Bowman, who leads all starting goalies with an 82.43 save percentage.
New West also got stronger up front with the acquistion of third-year righthander Brett Dobray from Langley that completed an earlier one-for-one deal that sent 6-3 righty Riley Glemnitz to the Thunder.
New West put together a strong third period to down the Burnaby Lakers 15-8 on June 19.
Josh Byrne and Anthony Malcom led the final-period surge with a pair of goals apiece.
Byrne topped all scorers with four goals in a seven-point night. Malcom added six points, including his second hat trick of the season.
With four games left on the schedule, Bowman says the juniors have no intention of taking their collective foot off the gas pedal.
“We want to challenge ourselves,” he said.
New Westminster took on Langley on Tuesday (after Recorddeadlines).
The Salmonbellies take on the junior Lakers at the Bill Copeland Sports Centre in Burnaby on Sunday. Game time is 7 p.m.
