Hat tricks from Okuyama, Gagnon lead the way for Thunder

Langley Thunder's Koji Okuyama scored three times -- his first multi-goal game in the BC Junior A Lacrosse League -- in a huge 8-3 win over the visiting Port Coquitlam Saints on July 10 at Langley Events Centre. Ryan Molag photo

The math is simple: win once and they are in.

That is the scenario facing the Langley Junior A Thunder heading into the final weekend of the regular season.

Hosting the Port Coquitlam Saints on Thursday night at Langley Events Centre in BC Junior A Lacrosse League action, the Thunder closed on a 4-0 run over the final 7:27 to secure the 8-3 victory.

The Thunder (8-7-0) and the Delta Islanders (8-8-0) are tied with 16 points in the race for the fourth and final playoff spot. However, Langley holds the tiebreaker, having won both head-to-head matchups against Delta this season.

Delta wraps up its schedule in Nanaimo on Saturday, while Langley finishes with back-to-back road contests: Saturday in Victoria and Sunday in Nanaimo, the latter a make-up game from one that was postponed last month because of travel issues with B.C. Ferries.

Game Recap

For 40 minutes, the game resembled more of a soccer score than lacrosse with Langley nursing a 2-1 lead.

“Just stayed positive that our offence would start going and trust that our defence would shut them down,” explained assistant captain Ben Gagnon, who played the full game on offence rather than his traditional defence/transition role.

“I was excited. It has been a couple of years since I’ve played a whole game on O, so I was super excited to be out there,” he said following his three-goal performance, all of which came in the third period, including the last one on a penalty shot.

Matching Gagnon with a three-goal effort of his own was Koji Okuyama, as the rookie showcased his ability to pick off passes in his own end and then turn on the jets, using his speed to breakaway from defenders and capitalize.

“Honestly, all year, we have just been sticking to the systems. We know the shots will fall. We stayed with the system, stayed together, played as a team and it worked out in the end,” Okuyama said. It was the rookie's first career multi-goal game in the BCJALL.

“(Koji) was unbelievable when he got here and he’s getting better every game. He is a special player,” said Langley coach Matt Beers.

The coach added that the team – missing its four leading scorers – has shown a commitment to the team and willingness to do whatever is asked of them. Gagnon was an example of that, filling a void on the left-side of the offence as Langley was down its top three lefties.

“Ben stepped up on offence, is learning the plays pre-game and had a fantastic game. He is a heart and soul guy so that was pretty inspirational for the guys to see,” Beers said.

Nathaniel Leroux and Mason Eastgate had the other goals with Marcus Khan finishing with 27 saves on 30 shots.

Nathan Roseborsky scored twice for the Saints with Aaron Price stopping 42 of the 50 shots fired his way.

Thursday’s game was the final junior home game for seven members of the Thunder: Bailey Vanichuk. Ben Gagnon, Cody Malawsky, Dylan Doucette, Hudson Zazelenchuk, Nathaniel Leroux and Sam Wallace. Vanichuk and Malawsky missed the game because of injury.

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