The road to another Mann Cup looks like a bridge too far for the New Westminster Salmonbellies after they dropped Game 5 of the WLA Final to the Langley Thunder 8-4 at Queen's Park Arena Thursday night.
The 'Bellies, now down 3-2 in the series, head to the Langley Events Centre for Saturday's Game 6 and will probably be missing two of their best players, Kevin Crowley and Jordan Hall, who are scheduled to be in Annapolis, Maryland. The duo play for the Hamilton Nationals of the Major Lacrosse League, the professional field circuit that has its semifinals and its title game this weekend.
Hall, who has missed games 1, 4 and 5 of the WLA Final because of his work commitments with Reebok, is already out east while Crowley, at his Twitter handle @KevinCrowley21 Tweeted at 6:30 a.m. Friday "sitting in the airport (at) YVR."
For former New Westminster Jr. Salmonbellie, Brett Mydske, it was as sweet a victory as the current Langley Thunder transition player could remember in Queen's Park Arena.
"We finally got one in New West," said Mydske after the game. "We wanted to go into this game as if it was a Game 7.
"When people think of the Salmonbellies, they think of their transition game. It's good to beat them at their own game."
The 'Bellies were undone by another slow start on Thursday as Rob Van Beek and former 'Bellie Athan Iannucci staked the Thunder to a 2-0 first period lead. In contrast to the two previous games played at Queen's Park Arena, the Thunder were outscored 8-1 in the opening frame.
Crowley closed the margin to one at 2:59 of the second, but a little more than three minutes later, Alex Turner restored the two-goal margin.
Ilija Gajic got the 'Bellies' second at 8:23 of the second, but the Thunder responded with three transition goals, from Mydske, Nick Bilic and Jamie Lincoln, to take a four-goal lead into the third period.
Mydske's marker came shorthanded on a two-on-one with Matt Leveque, with Bilic following that less than four minutes later with a nice solo effort.
Nenad Gajic and Crowley, with his second of the game, narrowed the margin to two midway through the final frame. After Gajic's goal, the 'Bellies asked for a measurement of Thunder goalie Brodie MacDonald's pads and after the former Burnaby junior's equipment was found to be illegal, he was ejected. Crowley's goal came on the subsequent power play.
The 'Bellies couldn't beat Andrew Leyshon for the next 10 minutes and Iannucci's second, into an empty net, was the insurance marker with only 1:10 left in the game.
New Westminster then tried another desperation move, asking for Leyshon's equipment to be measured, but when that failed, Van Beek added his second, again into an empty net and on the power play, at 19:10 of the third period.
MacDonald was the first star of the game, stopping 28 of 31 New Westminster shots while Van Beek was second star and high scorer of the night with three points.
Game 6 is at 7:45 p.m. on Saturday at the Langley Events Centre. A Game 7, if necessary, would be at Queen's Park Arena on Monday night at 7:45 p.m.
