It took six games and entirely new coaching staff for the Coquitlam Adanacs to win their first game of the Western Lacrosse Association season.
The Adanacs defeated the Burnaby Lakers, 11-9, Friday at Copeland Arena in Burnaby, just hours after head coach Bob Bell, along with his assistants Shaun Springett and Al Truant, resigned. Assistant general manager Steve Klarner and team video analyst Aiden York also left the team.
The Adanacs made no official statement, but the team did announce on an Instagram post that Steve McKinlay would take over as the team’s interim coach, along with assistants Blair Bradley, Mike Quinn and Alex Bevan.
McKinlay in a former player for the Adanacs, from 2012 to ’14. He scored 18 points in 32 games. He also played seven games in the National Lacrosse League.
The changes seemed to energize Coquitlam, which had lost its first five games of the season, including a 10-9 setback in overtime to the Lakers last Saturday. The Adanacs scored the game’s first three goals, two of them by Vinny Ricci, and carried a 3-2 lead into the first intermission.
Carson Barton and Ricci, with his third, extended Coquitlam’s advantage to 5-2 early in the second period before Daryl Veltman got the hosts close with a pair of goals less than a minute apart.
Carter Badour made it 6-4, then it was Ricci again, this time with a shorthanded goal, to put the visitors up 7-4 at the end of the second period.
Ricci added two more goals in the third period to finish the night with six, while Matt Delmonico had four assists. Even goalkeeper Christian Del Bianco chipped in on offence as he was credited with a pair of helpers, in addition to his 42 saves.
The Adanacs will host the Langley Thunder Saturday, 7 p.m., at the Poirier Sport and Leisure Complex.
