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 0 Comments

Nail-biter in Coquitlam

Fans of either team were on the edge of their seats tonight as the 'Bellies and the Adanacs met once again. The game was close for most of the first period, with the 'Bellies as sluggish as they usually are at the start. By the end of the first, however, they were down by three. Early on in the second period, Matt Disher let three goals in a row slip by and was pulled from the game. At that point the 'Bellies were down by six.

Schibild certainly looked like he benefited from his time in net last game. He played amazingly well tonight and was voted the game's first star.

Soon after the 'Bellies gave away three, the Adanacs goalie also let in three and was replaced. By the end of the second period, the score was once again tied, then the Adanacs eked out a two-point lead. With less than three minutes left in the game, the score was tied at 11, and in the last minute of play, each team scored again and the game went into ten minutes of overtime.

In his only bad play of the game, Schibild overshot a pass to a 'Bellies runner, and the team missed an opportunity for a breakaway. With seven seconds to go, New West called a time out, pulled the goalie, and went for a tie-breaking goal. Except they missed. A Coquitlam player seized the opportunity to shoot at an empty net--and also missed. Final score 12-12.

Labels: Adanacs, Disher, Salmonbellies, Schibild

posted by Barbara K. Adamski @ 10:56 PM 0 Comments