New Westminster did an about face against the Delta Islanders on Tuesday.
The junior A Salmonbellies showed a complete reversal of form, redeeming a recent 12-6 loss to the Islanders in Ladner with a sparkling 14-4 victory at Queen’s Park Arena on Tuesday.
In fact, the similarities between the two divergent outcomes, prompted ’Bellies captain Steve Ferdinandi to claim, “We did what we had to do.”
In the May 17 loss to Delta, New West scored just once in the final two periods on Islanders’ keeper Ryland Hood and were out shot by double figures.
The middle period proved the Salmonbellies’ undoing, with New West giving up seven goals to the home team.
At Queen’s Park, New Westminster reversed its fortunes in a mirror-image-like way.
Trailing 3-2 heading into the middle period, the Salmonbellies wasted no time pelting Hood with 21 shots on goal, scoring on eight of them. The first coming from Jeremy Bosher at 40 seconds of the period.
Bosher, Jakob Doucet and Josh Byrne, with five goals in his first season start, all collected a pair of goals in the period.
Ross Bowman was stellar following a lacklustre outing in the wild win over Victoria two days earlier. The second-year starter blanked the Islanders for more than 40 minutes before he gave way to backup Michael Flintoff with five minutes left to play.
Ferdinandi said the team knew it had to bring a different energy to the game on Tuesday.
“We just played a good team game,” he said. “I think we just came into the dressing room with a different mindset.
“Everyone knew they had to personally play better. I thought right from the start we were focused.”
Byrne opened the scoring for New West with goals on his first two shots. He counted his fifth of the game while shorthanded, spotting an opening in the Islander defence and taking it to the net, firing the ball through the head of a needle on the short side of Matt Keith, who came on in relief of Hood late in the second period.
Luke Gillespie and Tyrell Hamer-Jackson also counted goals on the shortman to bring the ’Bellies’ season total to a league-high 10 goals on the penalty kill.
Connor Robinson held on to his lead atop the scoring ladder, adding four assists to remain a point ahead of Nanaimo’s Corey Shires with 52 points.
Bowman allowed just three goals and made 30 stops.
“It’s coming,” said junior Salmonbellies head coach Dan Perreault, who earlier in the day took over as the new head coach of the National Lacrosse League Vancouver Stealth.
“Right now, we’re thinking about league play and playoffs,” he added. “It’s all about fundamentals and good habits. It’s huge at this time of the year.”
Coquitlam edged a point ahead of New West following a 14-9 win over Burnaby on Wednesday.
The juniors are on the road for two games this week before returning home for a tilt with Port Coquitlam on Tuesday at 8 p.m.
