Superior special teams helped the Black Fish take Game 1.
Black Fish scored four times with the man advantage – adding a short-handed goal for good measure – while holding the Shooting Eagles to a single power-play goal (which came in the last minute) for the 13-12 victory to open the Arena Lacrosse League (ALL)west division finals on Wednesday night at Langley Events Centre.
The Black Fish were 4-for-7 (although their last power-play opportunity was for the game’s final 12 seconds, when all they were doing was protecting the ball) while the Shooting Eagles went 1-for-6.
During the regular season, the Shooting Eagles scored on 57 per cent of its power-play chances, while killing off 52 per cent of their penalties. By comparison, the Black Fish checked in at 48 and 43 per cent, respectively.
“We have pretty good skilled players (and) I think they are more patient now,” said Black Fish coach Rod Jensen, explaining that his power play unit did a good job of drawing their opponent out of position to get a better look.
“And (Alex) Buque is a good goalie, so we have just been focusing on hitting the corners and not hesitating,” Jensen added.
The Shooting Eagles led 5-3 after a quarter and the score was tied at 10 with just over five minutes gone in the second half, but the Black Fish clamped down defensively, holding its opponent scoreless over the next 18:48.
“I don’t think we played our best. These guys are the defending champs. They are a good team and well coached, but I just think we are peaking,” Jensen said.
Goaltender Brandon Humphrey finished with 38 saves on 50 shots, with 30 of those coming after the opening quarter.
Offensively, the Black Fish were led by six points from Brian Gillis (two goals, four assists), while Connor Watson and Laszlo Henning each had hat tricks and five points. Ethan M’Lot matched his teammates five-point outings with a pair of goals and three assists. Remo Schenato (1-3), Ryan Jones (1-2), Jordan Roberts (1-0), and Ryan Jensen (1-0) completed their team’s scoring.
Declan Fitzpatrick led the Shooting Eagles with four goals and an assist, while Mark Yingling (3-1) and Dylan Lacroix (1-3) each had four-point games. Ben Gagnon (1-2), Doug Porter (1-1), Logan Cote (1-1), and Patrick Corbett (1-0) also scored.
Alex Buque finished with 44 saves on 57 shots.
Game 2 of the series was on Thursday evening with the Shooting Eagles looking to keep its championship hopes alive.
Should they win, the two teams would play a 10-minute mini-game following a short intermission after the conclusion of the second game.
• Stay tune for results of that game
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