Tier 1 Thunder roll over Saints

After their offence came up empty-handed in the first period, the Langley Thunder found the back of the net seven times in the middle stanza. Powered by that dominant second period, the Thunder defeated the Port Coquitlam Saints 9-7 in BC Junior Tier 1 Lacrosse League action at Langley Events Centre on Tuesday night.

The Saints scored the only goal of the first period as Liam Froese turned aside all 17 Langley shots, but the second period saw the Thunder offence finally solve the goaltender.

“We made better shot selections in the second period. Our defence stayed strong, and we started taking better shots and our transition game got better,” said Thunder coach Darren Buchan. “We started to push the pace on transition and that was the difference.”

Langley’s defence also held Port Coquitlam to 15 shots over the final two periods as rookie Todd Hensrud earned his first career junior victory with 22 saves.

Port Coquitlam went ahead 2-0 a few minutes into the second period before Blake Larsen and Jonathan Grywacheski evened the score with goals 42 seconds apart. The teams would trade goals for the rest of the period before Larsen and Jack Margetson struck for goals in the final minute 36 seconds apart for a 7-5 Thunder lead with a period to play.

Both Larsen and Grywacheski completed their hat tricks in the final period. Erik Forsselius had the other Langley goal.

Austin Taggart (one goals, three assists) and Matthew Collis (two goals, one assist) led the Saints offence.

The win evens Langley’s record at 5-5 and gives them three wins in their past four games, with the loss coming in the team’s previous game, an 8-6 home loss on May 29 against the Nanaimo Timbermen.

“We felt we gave one away on Sunday, so we wanted to come back and avenge what happened in our house and come out strong,” Buchan said.

The Thunder’s next game is against that same Timbermen team, this time in Nanaimo on June 4. The next home game at Langley Events Centre is June 7 (7:30pm) against the Maple Ridge Burrards.

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