The New Westminster Salmonbellies booked their ticket to the Western Lacrosse Association playoff final with a 10-8 victory over a stubborn Langley Thunder.
The senior A Salmonbellies completed their 4-0 sweep in their best-of-seven semifinal series against the Thunder on Monday.
Now, it’s on to Victoria to take on the league champion Shamrocks with a trip to the Mann Cup awaiting the lucky winner.
In Langley, New West fell behind early but clawed back to draw even at 4-4 before the first period ended.
Langley, desperate for a win to prolong the series, kept the heat on in arguably the Thunder’s best game of the playoffs.
But New West’s relentless attempts at pushing the ball up the floor won the day.
“We feel our strengths come from our defence, goaltending and tranny. We knew coming in they were going to be our strengths,” said Salmonbellies head coach Steve Goodwin. “Including the game we had points taken away, we’ve won 10 straight games.”
First star Tyler Crompton led an on-fire transition that hit the mark five times in the game, including No. 26’s back-to-back counters between the second and third periods.
Shane MacDonald and Kyle Ross both scored from the back end to keep New West in the lead, before the hero of Game 3, Jordan McBride, struck for his game-winning second of the game midway through the third period.
Third star Colton Clark iced the win with his second of the night late in the frame.
Eric Penney was brilliant again in goal for the Salmonbellies, stopping 40 shots for the win.
New West is scheduled to open the best-of-seven WLA final series in Victoria on Friday.
Game 2 is at Queen’s Park Arena on Monday at an early time of 6:30 p.m.
“Victoria works hard for a very skilled team. They have athletes,” Goodwin said. “It really comes down to a really strong offence and a really strong defence. But, we believe we can compete with them.”
In Game 2, the ’Bellies led 3-1 after the first period and extended that lead to 6-3 after 40 minutes before finishing with a 10-5 win on goals by Clark, Patrick Miles and Richard Lachlan, with his hat-trick marker on a power play with less than five minutes left in the contest. Miles tallied his second of the game into an empty net.
At home, first star Jordan McBride opened the scoring in Game 3 and then broke open a tight game early in the middle period, sparking an unanswered three-goal scoring spree that helped the league runner-up take an 8-7 decision.
McBride tallied back-to-back goals two minutes apart near the midway stage of the game and then set up Keegan Bal with a lovely feed to the top of the crease for a 6-3 lead.
Lachlan also scored a pair of goals for the ’Bellies, including a quick one-timer in traffic that gave the home team a 2-1 first-period lead.
“This was a very big win for us,” said Lachlan. “In the playoffs, there are no easy games. You have to put your body on the line. It’s playoff lacrosse. You got to bump and grind a little bit.”
Both McBride and Lachlan did their share of that, accumulating five of New West’s first seven goals through the midway mark of the final frame.
At that point, Langley staged a mini rally of its own, clawing back to within a goal on the backs of two former New Westminster juniors.
Rookie righthander Anthony Malcom got it started on a power play in the 11th minute and then Leif Mydske tallied a shorthanded marker off the ensuing faceoff less than 30 seconds later.
Malcom got his second of the game on a sweet shot to the near post on a second power play to shave the deficit to 7-6 with less than five minutes to go, but Jimmy McBride re-established a two-goal lead for New West with the game-winning tally on a transition counter from goalie Penney a minute later.
Penney, the Record’s pick for WLA rookie of the year and semifinal MVP put in another stellar outing for the Fishmen, stopping 42 Langley shots and registering a 0.857 save percentage.
Penney also claimed Thursday’s first star with a 0.894 save percentage in another 42-save masterpiece at the Langley Events Centre.
“This whole year (Penney) has stood on his head. It’s a luxury we have (to have two starting goalies), he’s never had a bad game,” said Lachlan.
Victoria comes into the WLA final on a six-game win streak after dispatching the Maple Ridge Burrards in four games, following Sunday’s 13-4 win.
“(Our defence) gives us some confidence up front,” Lachlan added. “It starts back there and the intensity carries through.”
