They were up, they were down -- the New Westminster Salmonbellies sampled every possible outcome on Wednesday but walked away with a win to grab a share of first place in the Western Lacrosse Association.
By knocking off the Langley Thunder 14-10 -- on the strength of five unanswered goals over the final 12 minutes -- New West tied Maple Ridge with a 6-3-1 record, one point ahead of third-place Victoria.
Midway through the third Mitch Jones deadlocked the game 10-10 and was followed quickly by Dane Sorensen, who notched his 16th of the season with 8:23 remaining, to retake the lead. It also reclaimed the momentum New West had held for the first 30 minutes of the game, and was followed with tallies by Brett Dobray, Jimmy McBride and Mike Messenger.
It all came together after the Bellies saw a five-goal advantage in the second period vanish, as last-place Langley counted six straight goals.
Former Salmonbellie and 43-year-old lefthander Darren McEwen, in his first WLA game since 2009, counted a pair of goals for the Thunder, including the marker with three seconds left in the second that made it 9-9. Langley took the lead 4:46 into the third and seemed to be in good position to collect just its second win of the season.
But New West had other ideas.
Jordan McBride finished with three goals and three assists, while one-time Thunder Anthony Malcom tallied a pair of goals and six helpers. Brandon Goodwin chipped in two markers, while Logan Schuss counted a goal and four assists.
It came on the heels of a successful trip to the Hub City on the weekend, where the Salmonbellies slipped past the Nanaimo Timbermen 8-7, thanks to Jones' goal with 2:06 left in the third.
The squad was trailing 7-6 but got the equalizer from Jordan McBride with under three minutes to play.
Junior Bellies sniper Connor Robinson made the trip and converted two scoring opportunities, as the visitors built up a 6-4 lead before Nanaimo turned the tables.
Playing a key role in the rally was netminder Alexis Buque, who faced 50 T-men shots.
New West hosts the Burnaby Lakers tonight (Thursday), 7:45 p.m. at Queen's Park Arena.
