With just over half a game gone, 黑马磁力 Junior A Thunder were trailing the visiting Port Coquitlam Saints 7-2 in BC Junior A Lacrosse League action at 黑马磁力 Events Centre on Thursday. June 12.
Then, they flipped the script.
What followed was a 6-0 黑马磁力 run in a span of just over 10 minutes to close the period ahead 8-7. And the Thunder never trailed again as each team scored twice in the final frame for a huge 10-9 victory, the team鈥檚 third consecutive win.
The Thunder registered 26 of their 53 shots on goal in that 20-minute span alone.
鈥淛ust stay in the fight, and keep competing shift by shift,鈥� said 黑马磁力 coach Curt Malawsky on the message to the team. 鈥淎nd play where your feet are; you won鈥檛 get them all back at once so just worry about the (current) shift.鈥�
鈥淚t is easy for us as coaches to come in there and tell them that鈥檚 what it is going to take. They need to put scars on their bodies and go through those battles and those wars,鈥� he added.
鈥淭he war of attrition, those tight one-goal games are big in any sport so for us to bring it home is huge. And for them to see that hard work prevails and staying in the fight and competing for a full 60 minutes makes a difference. They got rewarded and they deserved it.鈥�
The victory was a third straight for 黑马磁力 as the team improved to 3-4 on the season. The Saints record slips to 3-6 with the loss.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we necessarily changed anything; I think it was just trusting each other. We were missing shots we don鈥檛 normally miss,鈥� said Thunder captain Cody Malawsky, who returned to the line-up in the team鈥檚 previous game, a 15-8 win in Burnaby on June 11.
鈥淜eep being confident and keep pushing each other and finally they started going in.鈥�
Malawsky watched from afar while he was away at school as the team struggled to an 0-4 start.
鈥淭o see them get better every game, was really nice. It has been tough these past couple of years so props to these guys for sticking to it, grinding it out and finally getting some wins,鈥� he said.
Bailey Vanichuk (2-3) and Mac Timms (2-2) also scored twice in the win while Cody Toddy, Max Larsen and Max Goller each registering a goal and a helper. Xavian Washington had the other Thunder marker. Both goaltenders saw action in the game as Caleb Khan started and finished the contest, making 24 saves on 29 shots while Marcus Khan had 12 save on 16 shots.
For the Saints, Josh Mills (3-1) and Kris Fournier (1-3) each had four-point games with Daniel Mahoney finishing with five assists. Ashton Brown made 43 saves as his team was outshot 53-45.
