The New Westminster Salmonbellies put their collective foot back down on the pedal after having an earlier win taken away on a forfeit in the B.C. Junior Lacrosse League.
The junior A Salmonbellies, with a record of 1-3 following the forfeiture, ganged up on the Port Coquitlam Saints 15-5 on Tuesday night after being stripped of their 16-4 victory over Nanaimo last Sunday because of incomplete paperwork surrounding the transfer of Edmonton native Brendan Ranford. The former Kamloops hockey player scored his first career junior goal in the forfeited win.
"We'll make that up," said New Westminster head coach Dan Perreault.
The junior 'Bellies appeared good to their coach's word, raining 25 shots on the PoCo keeper in the opening frame at its Tuesday night home match at the Queen's Park Arena, jumping out to an 8-2 first-period lead.
Rookie Chris Nasato had his best junior A game to date on the left side, leading all scorers with a career-high five-point outing and his first-ever junior hat trick.
Nasato punctuated the one-sided scoreline with back-to-back counters six minutes apart in the middle stanza.
Jimmy McBride and Anthony Malcom returned to the New West lineup with three-point outings, including a pair of goals apiece.
McBride opened the Salmonbellies' scoring, while Malcom picked up his first midway through the period. McBride also tallied the eventual game-winning marker later in the first period.
Kyle Dobbie also potted two goals and added an assist, while Luke Gillespie scored three goals.
Frank Scigliano, who plays goal for the Calgary Roughnecks of the NLL pro league, turned away 31 PoCo shots in the Salmonbellie net.
Rookie Jeremy Bosher currently leads the team with 15 points.
The win brought New West level with the Saints, both with 2-3 records.
The league standings tightened up with Coquitlam's 75 win over Delta on Wednesday.
Currently four teams, Delta, Langley, Victoria and Coquitlam are within two points of each other. PoCo and New West are another two points behind the leaders.
"It's going to be a tight race," said Perreault. "There's a long way long way to go, but I like what is in place right now. I like our group. But we have to keep pushing and we have a ways to go."
The Salmonbellies are on the road for their next two games. New West plays a return match in PoCo against the Saints tonight (Friday).
On Saturday, the junior 'Bellies are at the Ladner Arena for a tilt with the first-place Delta Islanders. The two teams met earlier in the month with Delta coming away with a 13-9 victory at Queen's Park.
New Westminster does not return home until Tuesday, May 28, when it hosts Langley at Queen's Park.
