Furious third-period comeback ties series at two

Jaiden Terry defends Victoria's Mitchell Sandberg during game four of the BC Junior A Lacrosse League championship series at Langley Events Centre on Sunday afternoon. Ryan Molag LEC photo

For the second straight game, the Langley Thunder had a middle period to forget, only this time, the team pulled off an epic comeback as they have knotted the BC Junior A Lacrosse League championship series at two games apiece.

On Saturday, the Thunder were in Victoria with the host Shamrocks scoring nine times on their way to the 14-9 victory in game three. The teams resumed hostilities on Sunday afternoon for game four of the best-of-seven series, this time at Langley Events Centre, and after the Thunder took a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes, Victoria scored all six goals in the middle frame for a commanding 7-2 lead.

Kyle Brunsch’s attempted buzzer-beater came a half-second too late, sending the Thunder to the dressing room with their first scoreless period since mid-June, or 14 games ago.

“We got that one goal at the end of the second that didn’t count, and I said to the team … when we go back out there, that is what we build off of,” said Langley coach Adam Smith.

What transpired next was three goals in 79 seconds, prompting a Victoria timeout, as the Thunder pulled to within 7-5 with 16 minutes remaining.

“The second intermission and the timeout were both just reiterating good teams find ways to win. Not everybody needs to be there every night and if it is not your night, it is not your night, but other guys can step up and put it on their shoulders. Good teams step up and find ways to win,” Smith said.

Shortly after the timeout, Cody Malawsky scored his third of the period to make it a one-goal game. Victoria did respond with goals from Brodie Wade and Patrick Dodds to restore the Shamrocks multi-goal advantage, but Langley remained undeterred answering back with a pair of power-play goals from Stuart Phillips to make it 9-8.

Matt Abbott would tie the score and 11 seconds later, Malawsky scored his fourth of the game for what proved to be the game-winner with Brunsch tacking on an insurance marker with 25 seconds to play.

 Malawsky (four goals, one assist) and Brunsch (three goals, two assists) led Langley with matching five-point games while Phillips (two goals, two assists), Benjamin Stewart (three assists), Noah Armitage (three assists), Drew Kask (one goal, one assist) and Isaac Ngyou (two assists) each had multi-point games.

Brayden Wandler made 38 saves for Langley while his counterpart Adam Bland finished with 53 saves as the Shamrocks were outshot 64-47. Dodds led Victoria with two goals and six points with Dylan Johannes notching a pair of goals. Shane Halliwell, Kyle Pepper, Brayden Laity and Griffin Hall each scored once.

Game five of the series Wednesday (August 10) at Victoria’s Q Centre with a 5:00pm start before the series shifts back to Langley Events Centre on Saturday (August 13) with a 1:00pm start time.

Cody Malawsky keyed the third-period comeback for the Thunder with four goals in the final frame, including the game-winner with 1:49 to play. Ryan Molag LEC photo