The Lacrosse Blog

It's official

The New Westminster Salmonbellies are now in first place, with no chance of being removed, after beating the Burnaby Lakers 12-7 this evening at Queen's Park Arena. This is apparently the first time the Bellies have finished the season in first place since 1985. That year, they lost the cup challenge to the Brooklin Redmen. After winning the first three games, they gave up four. The following year, however, they did manage to win the cup.

Tonight's game was interesting. The reffing was bizarre--that's the only way to describe it. In the first period, several times the refs called too many men and little else. In the second period, they missed a lot of calls against both teams--important calls, such as holding, tripping, and more. And in the third period, they definitely favoured Burnaby, ignoring for example, when Burnaby's Adam Smith flipped over Salmonbellies' Kyle Ross by grabbing him behind the knees, and remained on top of him. They didn't even attempt to pull the two apart until Ross managed to get out from under Smith and was ready to throw a few punches. At that point, both players were given five-minute penalties. Why they didn't call it when it was obviously one-sided is beyond me. Like the two avid fans behind me said, "Get a green shirt, ref" since the refs were obviously favouring the green Lakers.

Athan Ianucci was the first star of the game, and it's no wonder. He did an outstanding job. The only time he messed up was when he fell into a fighting trap that Burnaby had set, and ended up in the penalty box. Matt Disher played well after a slightly shaky start. His most impressive play of the game was when he was wrestling with a Lakers' player midway to the centre line, and still managed to make a save on a ball that was heading directly for the open net. Burnaby goalie, Curtis Palidwor, had a great game, letting in only 11 of 51 shots (for some reason, Pointstreak lists only 47 shots on net). Why the Burnaby coach replaced him at this point is anyone's guess.

And my favourite moment of the game was when the man seated behind me yelled out, "I'd get rid of Conn before he does something stupid!" Seconds later, an angry Conn breaks away, gets the goalie dancing, and scores the Bellies' 12th goal of the game. Good stuff.

Labels: Burnaby Lakers, Conn, Disher, first place, Mann Cup, Palidwor, Ross, Salmonbellies, Smith

posted by Barbara K. Adamski @ 10:49 PM