Shooting Eagles and Grizzlies continue to head in opposite directions as one team has won four straight and the other had dropped five consecutive games.
Spencer Bromley snapped a tie game with 2:32 remaining as the Shooting Eagles held off the Grizzlies 14-13 in Arena Lacrosse League West Division action on Wednesday, Feb. 8 night at Langley Events Centre as the Shooting Eagles improved to 7-4 while the Grizzles fell to 4-7.
Bromley’s game-winning goal came shortly after the Grizzlies had scored four times in a span of 4:05 to erase a 13-9 deficit.
“We were just crashing hard, trying to find the next goal and I was just lucky it happened to be me,” said Bromley.
“(Adam) Noakes was out there crashing and banging for me, and I was able to finish it off.”
As has been the case for the entire ALL season, the Shooting Eagles continued their torrid scoring as they lead the West Division with 14.4 goals and are the only team among the four with a positive goal differential (+18).
Their offensive depth was again on display on Wednesday with three different players registering a hat trick.
“Every other night, it is someone else going off. We can take any guy out of the lineup, and we know someone else is going to step up. We have a super deep offence and that is why we are starting to string together some wins. The pieces are starting to come together,” said Bromley.
Bromley – who was the first star — and Mark Yingling both finished with three goals and an assist while McIntosh also had a hat trick. Jacob Dowell, Sam Claire and Coady Adamson each finished with a goal and an assist with Dylan Lacroix and Doug Porter rounding out the scoring with a goal apiece.
In goal, Brody Harris finished with 36 saves on 50 shots while his counterpart, Kyle Mooney made 35 saves on 49 shots.
The Grizzlies also had three players finish with hat tricks – Sekawnee Baker and Drew Kask both had three goals and seven points while Pearson Willis scored three times and set up another. Erik Maas (2+4), Jake Stott (1+1) and Mitchell Nolet (1+0) had the other Grizzlies goals.
Baker and Kask – who was making his Grizzlies debut following a trade from the Black Fish last week – were the second and third stars, respectively.
The win was a fourth straight and fifth in the past six games for the Shooting Eagles, who have a one-game lead for top spot in the ALL Wes with three games to play in the regular season.
And while head coach Adam Smith was happy with the result, he knows the team has areas to improve, citing mental mistakes defensively.
“We just get into these horse races with teams sometimes. We get caught up in the momentum; we do better defensively when we can get back and set up. The more we try and push the ball down the floor, getting every fast break that we can, we make more mistakes,” he said. “When we start slowing it down and the focus is that we don’t need to push the ball down the floor and we need possessions, then all of a sudden, we change our mindset from trying to get breakaways to playing actual defence. We have the skill.”
Next, all four teams return to the floor at Langley Events Centre for week 12 action with a doubleheader on Sunday, Feb. 19.
The Shooting Eagles will face the Black Fish at 1 p.m. while the Grizzlies battle the Sea Spray at 4 p.m.
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