The Port Coquitlam Saints broke their season-opening slump in a big way Monday, defeating the Burnaby Lakers, 13-6, in their BC Junior A Lacrosse League game at Burnaby’s Copeland Arena.
It was the Saints’ first win after three straight losses.
The road to victory started early, as Daniel Miller put the visitors in front after just 26 seconds.
The Lakers tied it up a few minutes later when Joseph Callard scored on a power play after PoCo’s Rhys Blake was assessed a five-minute major penalty for high sticking Burnaby forward Thomas Vela.
But 10 seconds later the Saints asserted their authority with the first of two shorthanded goals by Jacob Dunbar, the first on a clear breakaway after he split a pair of Burnaby defenders right off the face-off following Callard’s tying goal.
Reece Hyrcan, a Junior B call-up, put the Saints ahead 4-1 before Burnaby sandwiched the intermission break with goals by Vela and Marcus Klarich to narrow PoCo’s margin to 4-3. But that’s as close as they would get.
Just over a minute later, Miller’s second goal of the game sparked a four-goal run that put the Saints ahead 8-3 heading into the third period. Port Coquitlam then outscored the hosts 5-3 the rest of the way.
Runner Evan Wray, another Junior B call-up, led all Saints’ scorers with a pair of goals and five assists, while Dunbar finished with six points and Miller added three assists to his two goals.
Calvin Hafner faced 32 shots in PoCo’s net, while his teammates fired 50 shots at Lakers’ goalies Diesel De Guzman and Matteo Tack.
