Lakers win a wild one against the Timbermen

After a hard fought comeback only to lose in overtime last Sunday against the Delta Islanders, the Burnaby Lakers looked to start and finish strong against the Nanaimo Timbermen at home on Saturday afternoon. Boy, was it a wild game.

After a lot of back and forth in the first ten minutes of the first period, it was the Lakers who opened the scoring with a DannySpagnuolo goal with 9:53 remaining. Over a minute later and a 4-minute checking from behind penalty on the Timbermen, Lakers’ KyleHeiling scored to make it 2-0, but the Timbermen made their shorthanded opportunity count when LiamYoung beat ThomasHankins to cut the Lakers lead to 1. 

The Lakers continued to dominate the first period as they had 23 shots on goal and were able to capitalize twice before the period ended to make it 4-1 Lakers. 

The Timbermen made it a little interesting early in the second period with goals from Will Johansen-Intera and JakeMickelson within the first minute of the period to make it a 4-3 game. Before the halfway point of the period, Lakers’ WyattPinder extended the Lakers lead to two again, but it was the Johansen-Intera show within the next four minutes where he netted two more goals, giving him a hat trick and evening the score at 5.

With 9:36 remaining in the second period, CodyClark gave the Timbermen their first lead of the game and then Johansen-Intera scored his 4th goal of the game just over 2 minutes later to make it a 7-5 game.

However, just like last Sunday, there was no giving up with this Lakers squad as Pinder, AidanBaker and Heiling each scored before the period ended to give the Lakers the lead heading into the third period. 

There was no sign of giving up from both teams in the third period. The Lakers extended their lead to 10-7 with 14 minutes remaining in the game, but the Timbermen would not go away as they scored two goals shortly after to make it a 10-9 game.

At the halfway mark of the third period, Lakers’ Chase Pretti-Pearsall and Timbermen’s ChaseAnderson dropped the gloves, which fired up both teams. The Timbermen ended up with a powerplay due to Pretti-Pearsall getting the instigator call and ejection from the game, but that didn’t stop the Lakers as Spagnuolo scored short handed, but the Timbermen got it right back with a goal by Johansen-Intera on the power play, making that his 6th of the game.

The instigator penalty continued to be costly, as the Timbermen tied the game up with a goal from Mickelson on the power play.

Unfortunately for the Timbermen, the Lakers did not want this game to go to overtime and they made sure of it. JordanGabriele and Heiling scored with under 5 minutes to go in the game to make it 13-11 Lakers. The Timbermen tried to claw back when they scored with 2:41 remaining, but Spagnuolo officially put the game away when he scored with 1:38 left, giving the Lakers a 14-12 victory.

 

THREE STARS OF THE GAME

1. Burnaby - Wyatt Pinder - 4 goals, 6 assists

2. Nanaimo - Will Johansen-Intera - 6 goals, 1 assist

3. Burnaby - Danny Spagnuolo - 3 goals, 3 assists

 

The Lakers won’t get any time off as they take on the Victoria Shamrocks tomorrow evening while the Timbermen will have to get on the earliest ferry today to take on the Port Coqutilam Saints at home tomorrow night.