Three wins in a row have put the Port Coquitlam Saints two points behind the Langley Thunder and Victoria Shamrocks for fourth place in the BC Junior A Lacrosse League standings.
The Saints followed up an 8-5 victory over the Thunder last Thursday at the Langley Events Centre with a 10-4 upset over the second-place New Westminster Salmonbellies last Friday at the PoCo Rec Centre.
The Saints, who’ve won seven of their last 10 games after they lost their first four games of the season, had little trouble dispatching the visitors from New West. PoCo scored five times in the first period before Jayden Campbell got one of those back for the Salmonbellies just before the intermission.
A goal by Charlie Kurtenbech early in the second period got the Bellies to within 5-2 of the Saints, but that’s as close as they got.
Andrew Gresham’s power play goal put PoCo up 6-2, then Greg Lunde scored his second and third goals of the game to increase the margin to six.
New West was able to cut that to 8-4 with two goals 35 seconds apart late in the period but the hosts were the only team to score in the third period.
Lunde added an assist to his hat trick and Mickey Fitzpatrick counted five assists to lead all Saints’ scorers. Goalie Andrew Gallant stopped 29 shots, while PoCo fired 34 shots at New West keepers Erik Kratz and Nik Lund-Murray.
The win gives the Saints momentum heading into their game tonight against the league-leading Coquitlam Adanacs, Friday at the PoCo Rec Centre. They’ll also be rested, while the Adanacs will be playing their fourth game in six nights.
The Adanacs beat the Burnaby Lakers 18-4 Monday night at Copeland Arena and on Sunday they thumped the visiting Victoria Shamrocks 16-6 at the Poirier Sport and Leisure Centre.
Jphn Hofseth and Thomas Semple each had seven-point nights in Burnaby.
Against the Shamrocks, Coquitlam led 4-2 at the end of the first period, then scored eight times in the second to take a 12-5 advantage into the final frame. Hofseth scored eight points for the home team, including three goals, while Keenan Koswin chipped in a pair of goals and four assists. In all, 13 Adanacs scored at least a point, including goalkeeper Christian Del Bianco. His assist on Hofseth’s hat trick goal in the second period was his ninth of the season.
The Adanacs play the Thunder at Langley on Thursday, prior to their Friday match against the Saints.
