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Thunder down in series

The Thunder lost Game 3 of the Western Lacrosse Association league finals 10-7 to the Salmonbellies, despite the suspension of two New West players from a brawl on Friday night.

The Thunder lost Game 3 of the Western Lacrosse Association league finals 10-7 to the Salmonbellies, despite the suspension of two New West players from a brawl on Friday night.

This loss comes after Langley tied the seven-game series 1-1 on Friday (Aug. 19) by defeating New Westminster 12-6.

“Sunday was a tight game, and we expect it to be a tight series,” said Gerry Van Beek, Langley Thunder general manager.

“We had some issues getting some balls in the net into the third period.

“We just weren’t able to finalize it. The chances were there but we didn’t get in some of the goals we should have.”

Langley had 41 shots on net versus New West’s 34, but it was not enough to topple Salmonbellies goaltender Tyler Richards, who was just named the league’s goalie of the year last week.

Two Salmonbellies players, goaltender Matt Roik and defender Matt Laustrup, were suspended for Sunday’s game for their roles in the brawl on Friday, and will not play again until Game 5.

“On Friday we got ahead in the game and basically New West players decided to misbehave and create an issue and we defended ourselves,” said Van Beek of the brawl.

The melee resulted in a $250 fine for Langley and two separate fines of $350 and $150 for New Westminster for failure to control their players.

“There were only really two fights, but there were a lot of guys on the floor,” said Van Beek, who also believes that Friday night’s brawl did not affect their playing in Game 3.

The Thunder face the ’Bellies tonight (Aug. 23) for Game 4 at the Langley Events Centre.