On the lacrosse front in Langley, the Vanouver Stealth’s season may be over.
But for the Langley Thunder, it’s just beginning – sadly it’s not starting well.
The team fell in in its season opener to the Victoria Shamrock on Friday night, 10-9.
The Langley Thunder found themselves with a 3-1 deficit, after 20 minutes of their first WLA game of 2017. But their fortunes turned around after a seven-goal second period – which put them up 8-7.
The theatrics kept coming heading into the final frame.
The Shamrocks’ Corey Small scored a pair of goals to put Victoria up 9-8.
But Bryce Brochu added a marker to tie the game up with three minutes left on the clock.
And, when the game looked to be headed to extra time, the Shamrocks scored the go-ahead goal with 4.8 seconds left on the clock to secure the victory.
“I thought we worked hard, we did the little things that we could control really well and ended up wearing them down,” said Langley Thunder head coach Darcy Rhodes.
“As a 10-man unit, our defence was strong. They did a great job of pushing the pace and grabbing the loose balls,” Rhodes added.
Offensively, the Thunder were led by newcomer JP Kealey who had three goals and three assists, Bryce Brochu who scored two goals and 3 assists and James Rahe who tallied 2 goals and 2 assists on the evening. Brett Dobray and Justin Martin had the two other goals for Langley.
“We have three practises next week, we need to focus on building chemistry, learning each other’s tendencies and outworking our opponents,” said Rhodes. “The boys are really excited to get back at it.”
The Langley Thunder return to the island against the Nanaimo Timbermen on Sunday, May 28.
Their home opener is on Wednesday, May 31, against the Maple Ridge Burrards at 7:45 p.m., inside the Langley Events Centre.
Tickets are available at the Langley Events Centre box office at 604-882-8800, or on the Langley Thunder website.