Phillips sock-trick leads Thunder past Lakers

Langley Thunder's Stuart Phillips tucks the ball in just under the bar against the Burnaby Lakers for one of his six goals on Thursday night at Langley Events Centre in BC Junior A Lacrosse League action. Gary Ahuja Langley Events Centre photo

Seven goals in a span of 5:46 broke open a tie game as the Langley Thunder hammered the Burnaby Lakers 19-8.

The teams were tied at two goals with just under seven minutes to play in the opening period before the Thunder seized control over the visiting Lakers on Thursday at Langley Events Centre in BC Junior A Lacrosse League action.

The win improved Langley to 9-3 on the season while Burnaby fell to 5-6.

Stuart Phillips led the way for the Thunder as he scored four of his six goals in the opening 20 minutes and finished with a 10-point night.

Phillips credited the team’s defence for helping them find their game, especially as they were missing Drew Kask – their second leading goal scorer – on the right-side.

“Our back-end picked it up and were transitioning pretty well so we were able to get some easy ones,” Phillips said. “That sparked us, and we didn’t look back from there.”

Phillips entered Tuesday night with just six goals in his past six games, despite firing 41 shots on goal. Against the Lakers, he scored on six of 10 shots.

“His shot is starting  to come on now. Just good choices on when he was shooting, good placement, and then doing all the other little things well to help others get open as well,” said coach Adam Smith.

Phillips was just one of several Thunder players with big games as Kyle Brunsch scored four times while Cody Malawsky (two goals, five assists) and Tristan Kirkham (two goals, three assists) also had multi-goal games.

Kaidin Sheehan-Davies, Kaden Doughty and Declan Fitzpatrick all finished with a goal and a helper and Curtis Goode and Ethan Quinn contributed a goal apiece. Both Langley goalies saw action with Brayden Wandler allowing five goals on 24 shots before giving way to Troy Cuzzetto, who finished with 23 saves on 26 shots.

The Lakers’ Ethan M’Lot led his team with three goals and five points.

The win was a second straight victory for Langley as they fell behind 5-0 on Sunday in Victoria in what became a 17-10 loss to the first-place Shamrocks before again facing a 5-0 deficit on Tuesday in New Westminster only to rally and recover for the 15-11 win.

In the Thunder’s last five periods, they have now scored 42 goals while surrendering just 14 in that same span.

Langley has two games remaining in the regular season and can finish anywhere from first to fourth.

First up is a road game in Coquitlam versus the Adanacs on June 29 before they host the Delta Islanders at Langley Events Centre on June 30 (7:30pm).

The Adanacs beat the Thunder 13-10 back on June 2 while the Islanders scored 16 in a 19-16 Langley victory back in the season’s first game.

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