Goals don’t appear to be a problem for the New Westminster Salmonbellies.
The Western Lacrosse Association-leading team responded to its first loss in force, bouncing the Burnaby Lakers 18-2 last Friday. Coming a day after a thrilling 12-11 setback to the visiting Victoria Shamrocks, the win was the reply head coach Rory McDade had hoped for.
“We wanted a 60-minute game coming out of the last two games we played. We don’t think we put together 60 minutes, and (Burnaby was) missing a lot of bodies. Our guys responded well from the night before,” said McDade, in his first year behind the New West bench.
While the game was briefly tied 1-1, the visitors went on a couple of huge scoring binges, counting runs of eight and nine goals around the Lakers’ second marker.
Jason Jones scored five times, including a hat trick in the third period. Newcomer Lyndon Bunio contributed three goals and three assists, while Jordan McBride finished the night with two goals and five helpers. Also recording a seven-point night was Logan Schuss.
“Our offensive stats we’re really happy with. We’ve got about four guys running at about two goals a game,” said McDade. “Our offence is really clicking up front and we’ve talked the last couple of games of getting our transition chipping in a little more.”
To that point, the club got two tallies each from Mark Negrin, on Friday, and Brendan Ranford on Thursday.
Against Victoria, the ’Bellies found themselves in an offensive showdown right from the opening faceoff. After the ‘Rocks ended the first frame with a pair of special team markers and a 7-5 lead, New West replied with goals from Mitch Jones, Curtis Hodgson and Ranford to go ahead 8-7. It was a short-lived lead as Victoria cashed in twice on a five-minute powerplay to reclaim the lead.
Schuss notched three goals and four assists, while McBride added a goal and five helpers.
New West faces 5-2 Maple Ridge tonight (Thursday, 7:30 p.m.) at Queen’s Park Arena.
