Carson Rees scored his fifth goal of the game shorthanded with three minutes left which turned out to be the winner as the Port Coquitlam Saints defeated the hometown Burnaby Lakers 9-8 Tuesday.
The goal gave the Saints a two-goal cushion and some insurance they would need to cash in on since the Jr. Lakers scored with an extra attacker with 54 seconds remaining. Burnaby, however, was unable to come up with a tying goal before time expired.
The win put the Saints in the driver’s seat to finish third in the B.C. Junior A Lacrosse League’s regular season with an outside shot at second. PoCo is 13-5-2 with 28 points, two behind second-place New Westminster Salmonbellies (15-4-0) and three ahead of fourth-place Victoria Shamrocks (12-6-1).
The Saints, though, have just one game remaining while both New West and Victoria have two. Port Coquitlam completes its schedule by tangling with the Langley Thunder (9-9-1) at the PoCo Rec Centre on Friday (8 p.m.). The Salmonbellies have to deal with first-place Coquitlam Adanacs (16-2-1), who are riding an 11-game win streak, at the Poirier Sport Centre on Friday (7:30 p.m.), and the Shamrocks in Victoria on Saturday. The ’Rocks and A’s conclude the 2018 season Sunday (2 p.m.) at Poirier.
The Saints hold the season series over the Salmonbellies so if they tie in the standings PoCo would get the second spot and have home-floor advantage in a BCJALL semifinal between the two teams.
In addition to Rees’s scoring spree Tuesday, Jacob Patterson picked up two goals and two assists for PoCo. Connor Frost had a goal and two helpers while Junior B call-up Jordan Dunbar had one of each. Brodie Gillespie also chipped in with three assists.
PoCo outshot Burnaby 51-41 with Diesel De Guzman making 18 saves on 23 shots and Calvin Hafner, another Jr. B call-up, stopping 15 of 18 for the Saints.
