The Port Coquitlam Saints and Coquitlam Anadacs head into their crosstown BC Junior A Lacrosse League showdown Friday on opposite trajectories.
The Saints are winless in three starts after they lost 9-5 to the Langley Thunder Thursday at the Langley Events Centre. The Adanacs go for their third straight win Wednesday against the Thunder at the Coquitlam Sports Centre.
The Saints entered the season full of optimism after finishing fourth last year. But a lot of their promising young players have yet to suit up as they finish school commitments and their lineup is riddled with Junior B and Intermediate A call-ups.
One of those call-ups, Junior B runner Kyle Bailiuk, opened the Saints’ scoring against the Thunder, and later added an assist. But the inexperienced PoCo side was no match for the home team’s veterans who jumped to a 2-0 lead in a chippy first period that featured 10 penalties including a game misconduct to Langley’s Ryan Martel for unsportsmanlike conduct.
After Baliuk’s unassisted goal cut the Thunder’s lead in half, the Saints tied it when Greg Lunde beat Thunder keeper Torin Vanrheenen on the power play.
Langley restored its two-goal advantage early in the second period when Dawson Rodin and Nathan Mckeigan scored a minute apart.
The Saints scored three of the next four goals, two of them by Graydon Bradley, to get back on even terms.
But that’s as close as they got.
The Thunder scored two power play goals less than 30 seconds apart in the dying moments of the second period as a pair of Saints, Tanner Riley and Jayden Shellof, cooled their heels in the penalty box serving majors for high sticking and slashing. They then added two more in the third period to win going away.
Saints’ goalie Andrew Gallant stopped 31 of the 40 shots he faced, while PoCo fired 39 shots at the Langley net.
The Saints visit the Adanacs at the Sports Centre on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
